6. Salpointe loses state championship game, 1997

Brian Peabody’s Lancers, coming off a 29-2 season, were 29-3, favored to beat Winkelman's Carl Hayden High School in the state title game in Phoenix. No Tucson team had won the big schools basketball championship since 1982. Point guard Fern Tonella, who scored 30 points, hit three foul shots with 2 seconds remaining to force overtime, but Hayden won 80-75, the closest a Tucson team has come to a big-school title in 35 years. The Lancers locker room was a puddle of tears. 

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