The Valley Vista girls basketball team completed a yearlong cycle of tears.

A year ago, there were tears of sadness when the Monsoon lost to Millennium in the Open Division title game. And throughout this season, tears were present due in large part to hard work and frustration in practices.

On Saturday afternoon, while trying to secure their first state championship since 2023, the Monsoon came charging out of the gate from the opening whistle against Gilbert Highland, on both ends of the floor, and never let up.

The result was a 69-31 thrashing of the Hawks at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in downtown Phoenix. Tears of joy followed.

The win allowed Valley Vista (21-10) the chance to rebound from last year’s Open Division title loss to Millennium and pile up its seventh crown in the past 10 years.

“We’ve had practices where we wanted to cry after, but it’s all worth it now. This is one of the best moments of my life,” said a smiling Emma Bremer.

The Monsoon sophomore center poured in 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and was a menace for Highland's defense all game long. From the opening tip, Bremer was automatic around the basket, scoring six of her team’s first 10 points, staking Valley Vista to a 10-2 lead at the 4:02 mark of the first quarter.

The Hawks’ sophomore Peyton Jacobsen (16 points) tried to keep her team in the contest in the first half by scoring her team’s first eight points, but by that time, the Monsoon had blown up their lead to 23-8 midway through the second quarter.

Valley Vista would never lead by less than 10 points the rest of the way.

“We’ve prepared. We prepared all season to play today on March 7th, and we did it. We made it. We played a really good game,” winning coach Brooklynn Hinkens said.

Hinkens was proud of her team all the way around but singled out the game’s MVP, junior Kenzie Murray, as a key cog in the victory wheel.

“When you have a point guard like Kenzie Murray, it’s really hard to defend. She trusts her teammates to finish,” Hinkens added.

Valley Vista's Kenzie Murray was named the MVP of Saturday's 6A title game. (Jose Garcia photo/AZPreps365)

Murray continuously broke down the Hawks’ defense all game, leading to a plethora of high percentage shots in the paint for her teammates.

On the game, the Monsoon shot 49% overall from the field to just 22% for Highland. Murray finished with 16 points and 8 rebounds, but it was her 11 assists that really stood out.

“This is amazing. Last year we came up short, but it feels good to bring (the championship) back home this year,” Murray said. “We for sure executed. Our game plan from the start was to shut them down early, and that’s what we did."

The Hawks (23-10) finished the second quarter much better than the first, actually outscoring Valley Vista 13-12 to trim their deficit to 29-17 at the break, leaving room for optimism.

“We were down going into the second half against Hamilton on Tuesday, so I told them we have been here before. We just have to keep scratching and turn around the rebound counts,” explained Highland coach Clint Treadway.

“In the end, they’re just a better team. They are big inside, which gave us a lot of trouble rebounding that we couldn’t overcome,” Treadway added.

For the game, the Monsoon owned the boards with a wide 50-22 advantage. Joining Bremer and Murray in double-digit scoring was Natalie Yanes, who dropped in 15 points, including 3-of-6 from behind the arc.