PHOENIX — Even on its best night, Salpointe Catholic would have a hard time beating a talented team like defending state champion Phoenix Shadow Mountain.
Unfortunately, the Lancers had a hard time getting baskets and turned the ball over too often, never getting offensive rhythm. Down by as much as 20, 10th-seeded Salpointe did get within eight in the final minutes before falling 62-52 on Saturday night to No. 2 Shadow Mountain in the Class 4A state quarterfinals.
“We didn’t play our best on either side of the ball,” said Salpointe coach Justin Curran. “So a lot of the stuff that they did on a regular basis, they continued to do tonight and for us, we didn’t do what we normally do on a regular basis tonight.”
The Lancers (24-7) twice rallied after falling behind by double digits but couldn’t quite comeback against a taller, quicker, more aggressive Matador team.
“I felt like we were really prepared,” said point guard Brianna Arizmendi. “Because we saw a lot of film. I think we just lost our momentum, that’s what it was.”
Shadow Mountain (26-3) opened up a lead early, responding to everything Salpointe threw at them. Getting a couple of layups after breaking Salpointe’s full-court press, the Matadors opened up a 22-8 lead with 5:37 left in the first half. Only when Shadow Mountain’s big inside presence, Dymond Butler-Worley, got into foul trouble late in the half did Salpointe make a run.
Arizmendi hit a 3-pointer with 16 seconds left before intermission to cap the run, cutting the lead to 30-24 at halftime.
“It’s so important that they feel they have a shot, that positivity,” Curran said. “So even though it was a double-digit lead, just the fact that we were able to say to ourselves, we can still do this, there is still a lot of time left, and look what you’ve done in two and a-half minutes. That helped us a lot.”
Shadow Mountain scored the first 11 points of the third quarter and regained control, leading by as much as 49-29 after a layup to start the fourth quarter.
Arizmendi added nine points and eight rebounds for the Lancers, who were making their second straight trip to the quarterfinals after losing to Gilbert Mesquite last year. Salpointe lost in the first round in 2018.
“We didn’t necessarily run our offensive sets to the best of our ability,” Curran said. “I don’t think we were frazzled but we just didn’t get organized when we should have."
Salpointe had 19 turnovers and made only 37 percent of its shots.
The Lancers made one last surge. Jaya Nelson, who led the Lancers with 14 points, converted a 3-point play and hit a 3-pointer with 3:48 left to cut the lead to 51-43. Tessa Hastings, who had 10 points, hit a 3-pointer just 37 seconds left to get the Lancers back within 54-46. But Butler-Worley, a 6-footer who is going to play basketball at Long Island University-Brooklyn next year, drew a foul and sank the free throws and disrupted Salpointe enough to keep them from getting closer over the final two minutes.
