Highland, Dobson and Hamilton had already qualified for the Highland Thanksgiving Girls Basketball Tournament semifinals before any games were played Friday on the final day of the 17th annual tourney's pool play. One spot remained and that belonged to Tolleson after the Wolverines put on a fourth-quarter spurt to put away pesky Seton Catholic, 57-49, at Highland High School.

Seniors Bri White and Desiree Smith and junior Shaylin Heredia rescued Tolleson (4-1) from a furious Seton rally in the second half. White, who led all scorers with 23 points, poured in 18 of those in the first half. She made 8-of-9 shots from the field in the half. Heredia finished with 18 points -- eight in the final period -- and  Smith scored seven of her 13 in the final quarter.

The tournament semfinals are Saturday morning at Highland High. The first is at 9 a.m .(Highland vs. Dobson) followed at 10:30 a.m. (Hamilton vs. Tolleson).  The winners meet at 6 p.m. at Highland for the championship.

A late Tolleson run in the second period, which took the Wolverines from a single-digit lead to double-digits by intermission, had Seton looking as young and inexperienced as the Sentinels are for 2011-2012.

Scoring inside and driving around defenders for easy layups, Tolleson was on its way to a rout with a 37-20 lead in the first minute of the third period. A layup by Smith to open the third period had  Tolleson ready to  deliver a knockout punch.

Not true. Seton, behind offense from sophomore post Julia Barcello and junior guard Anne Marie Holter and a collective hard-nosed defensive effort from whoever coach Karen Self had on the floor in the period, led to a surprising run.

Seton outscored Tolleson 15-0 the rest of the period to pull within two entering the final quarter. And with 5:15 left to play and trailing 40-39, Seton was at the free-throw line with a one-and-one. A miss of the first free throw allowed Tolleson to rebound and put together a quick 8-0 run. That coincided with Barcello on the bench for two minutes with her fourth foul.

Seton couldn't recover from the 47-39 deficit, but it showed the resolve the Sentinels have as a  team to be reckoned with despite the graduation losses of standouts Theresa Wirth and Kayla Bustos.

The rest of the remaining tournament schedule for Saturday is as follows:

At Highland HS: Noon - Cibola vs. Fairfax; 1:30 p.m. - Flowing Wells vs. Gilbert; 3 p.m. -- Valley Vista-Mountain Pointe winner vs. Mountain Ridge-Seton winner (5th place); 4:30 p.m. - Highland-Dobson loser vs. Hamilton-Tolleson loser (3rd place). At Mesquite HS: 9 a.m. - Valley Vista vs. Mountain Pointe; 10:30 a.m. - Mountain Ridge vs. Seton; Noon -- Desert Ridge vs. Alhambra; 1:30 p.m. --- Apollo vs. Mesquite; 3 p.m. - Basha vs. Chaparral; 4:30 p.m. - Valley Vista-Mountain Pointe loser vs. Mountain Ridge-Seton loser (7th place).