PHOENIX β Sabino beat Page, 42-35, in the Class 3A girls basketball state championship at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Saturday.
The top-seeded Sabercats (28-4) completed its season on a 17-game win streak and won its first state title since 1990.
It was redemption for Sabino after the Arizona Interscholastic Association called for a forfeiture of its run to the 3A semifinals one year ago, citing a "prior contact" recruitment violation of a former transfer player on its roster, according to Sabino assistant coach Jeremy Daniels.
Page (25-6) was the two-time defending champion and No. 2 seed in the 3A tournament. The Sand Devils had a 12-game win streak heading into the title game.
Sabino was led by junior point guard Kamryn Doty and junior forward Kiya Dorroh. Doty and Dorroh had game-highs of 15 points and 15 rebounds, respectively.
Page junior center Torrance Begay led the Sand Devils with team-highs in points (12) and rebounds (6).
It was a tight game from the start.
Sabino and Page traded one-point leads to end the first three quarters, (8-7, Sabino in the first; 18-17, Page in the second; 27-26, Sabino, in the third).
The final three minutes of the game were the most suspenseful of the game.
As Sabino was ahead 33-30, Dorroh tried to milk the clock near halfcourt with 1:22 remaining, but she was called for a five-second dribbling violation.
Page was later called for a critical five-second violation after it failed to inbound the ball in time under its own basket with 57 seconds left.
After Dorroh was fouled, she was sent to the free throw line as the Sabercats were in the double bonus.
She hit both free throws to put Sabino up, 35-30.
On Page's following possession, Torrance Begay grabbed a rebound and scored a putback under the hoop.
Sabino's Ella Berg, Doty and Dorroh hit several free throws to seal the victory.
