Sunrise Mountain may need to raise the volume on its pregame hype video. 

Other than that, all is well in Mustang country.

The girls basketball program sent a loud and clear message after defeating Canyon View 56-43 in a matchup featuring the participants of the last two 5A championship games.

Spurred by a strong second quarter, the Mustangs likely established themselves Wednesday as the favorite in their conference this season.

Last year, Sunrise Mountain failed to repeat as champ after losing the 2024 final to Canyon View. 

“It was cool to see all of the work that we’ve put in leading up to this game kind of start to pay off,” Sunrise Mountain coach Jennifer Tolle said. “So we were just really focused in our execution and our effort.”

Before the biggest contest so far in 5A this season, the Mustangs (13-1) had only played five regular season games. 

But they were on point, especially in the second quarter, when they took care of the ball, made the extra pass and hit every shot except for two. Practice time spent on improving their ball movement to get better looks certainly paid off. 

Even with their walking double-double, post Addison Wiemann, in foul trouble, the Mustangs went from a four point first quarter lead to a 31-19 advantage heading into halftime. 

They made three threes and a converted a three-point play in the second frame to take control. Freshman Emma Nielsen and sophomore Omoye-Ojavan Aguebor contributed while Wiemann took their spot on the bench throughout the game.   

“We were very encouraging,” said the athletic Savanna Dotray (13 points), one of Sunrise Mountain’s four senior starters. “We knew we wanted to beat them despite the outcome back in March. We are just hoping for another one this March.” 

For defending 5A champ Canyon View, the guard dominated team had an off night from beyond the arc.

But last year’s 5A championship MVP, junior Jaila Flowers (25 points), did all she could in the paint to keep her team in the game. After a second chance basket by one of Canyon View’s four junior starters, Aaliyah Rogers, Flowers followed with a steal and layup to start the fourth quarter. 

That led to a Sunrise Mountain timeout while leading 43-34. But that’s as close as 8-5 Canyon View would get in the second half of the non-region affair.

With 3:53 left in the game, Sunrise Mountain also got to celebrate a milestone for Wiemann, who scored 14 points. The dual-sport star recorded her 1,000 career point after making a free throw. 

“I told them, ‘You are not going to win a championship tonight,’” Tolle said. “We have so many more games left. We just have to stay focused and keep going.”

Wednesday's game was stopped briefly to celebrate Addison Wiemann scoring her 1,000 career point. (No. 24). (Photo Jose Garcia/AZPreps365)