Call it a Tucson twinbill.Β
Southern Arizona teams will take center stage Saturday at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, thanks in part to what Sahuaro's girls team did Wednesday night. The third-seeded Cougars beat host Phoenix Shadow Mountain 64-59, earning a spot in Saturday's Class 4A state championship game. Sahuaro will take on top-seeded Chandler Seton Catholic at 10 a.m.; Salpointe Catholic's boys will play for a state title immediately after, facing top-seeding Peoria in a game scheduled to start at noon.Β
Sahuaro was led Wednesday by junior Alyssa Brown, who finished with 29 points on 7-of-20 shooting. Fellow junior Alyssa Franke added 18 points. No other Cougars players scored in double figures β or attempted more than seven shots, for that matter. Brown added 14 rebounds, three assists and one steal.
Sahuaro cruised through the tournament before Wednesday, beating Phoenix Moon Valley 60-38 in the first round and Gilbert Mesquite 60-50 in the quarterfinals. Shadow Mountain was a Tucson killer throughout the playoffs, blasting Catalina Foothills by 33 points in the first round and Salpointe Catholic by 10 in the quarterfinals, before running into Sahuaro. Shadow Mountain led 12-3 at the end of the first quarter and 28-22 at halftime beforea Sahuaro surge. The Cougars outscored their opponents by three points in the third quarter, then put up 21 fourth-quarter points to win by five.Β
