Salpointe is back in the 4A state final for the third time in four years after the Lancers beat No. 5 Estrella Foothills 61-29 in the semifinal match held Tuesday night at home. Top-seeded Salpointe will face No. 2 Mesquite in the final Thursday night at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum after the Wildcats held on to beat No. 3 Flagstaff 32-26 in that semifinal. Mesquite won three straight upper-division championships from 2016-2018. Mesquite moved to the 4A Conference in 2019.

Mesquite lost to Pueblo in the 4A semifinals last year while Salpointe lost to eventual Open Division champion Desert Vista in the Open quarterfinal round, which prevented the Lancers from returning to the 4A bracket. It was the one year the team missed the finals after losing to Seton Catholic in the 2021 4A state final and beating Flagstaff in the 2022 4A final, for the program’s only championship.

The Lancers sprinted out to a 19-8 lead in the first quarter and 37-10 at the half with junior standout Taliyah Henderson exerting herself over the Wolves with 13 points and nine rebounds. She went on to finish with 17 points and 17 rebounds while missing the final six minutes of play with her team up 58-27 and that point.

The Wolves made a mini run to cut the Lancer lead down to 43-22 with 3:07 left in the third quarter on a 3-pointer from Madison Pond but Jordan Watts hit two 3’s in the span of 25 seconds to put the Lancers up 49-22. Salpointe led 54-27 after three.

Estrella Foothills finished the year with a 28-5 record and the Wolves were led by freshman Nemo Sidhu, who finished with nine points. Alina Bowden had six.

(Nemo Sidhu: Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

 

Henderson had her 17 points, Allison Even had 12 points, as did Hannah Williams, and Jordan Watts added 10. The Lancers only have three seniors but there are nine juniors on the roster. Salpointe is now 26-4 on the year but undefeated in the 4A Conference.

Noel Hachtel. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)