The defining moment for Seton Catholic Saturday morning came in the final 10 seconds of the first half of its 4A-II girls championship game against Thunderbird.

Thunderbird hoisted up a shot from half court that caromed off the backboard. Noone blocked out the shooter, Shelbie Hess, and she snuck through the lane and scored as the half ended giving the Chiefs a 27-26 lead at halftime.

That was an attention getter. No. 2 Seton stormed out in the third quarter, regained command and finally wore down No. 5 Thunderbird in the final period to notch a 61-49 victory and win its second straight state title at Jobing.com Arena.

"That play was an absolute symptom of us not working hard enough all the time," Seton coach Karen Self said. "It was concrete proof we were getting outworked."

Senior standout Theresa Wirth got the message and so did four-year varsity teammate Kayla Bustos. Wirth tallied 10 of her game-high 23 points in the third period as Seton regained the lead and control.  Thunderbird hung tough and behind senior  guards Lillian Southwick and Hess, took the lead again for a few seconds, 44-43, with 6:33 left in the game on a drive to the basket by Hess

Then with 6:10 to play Bustos nailed a 3  -- her only one of the game -- to put Seton ahead for good, 46-44.

"There was great senior leadership out there, by all our seniors," Wirth, who is headed to the University of Denver next fall, said. "At halftime we knew there was only 16 minutes left and we had to leave it all out there."

After Bustos' 3  came back-to-back driving layups by -- you guessed it -- senior Colleen Chittenden. Those boosted the lead to 50-44 with 3:49 to go. Free throws down the stretch by Seton and a worn out Southwick and Hess finallyled to Thunderbird waving the white flag with a 12-ppint lead and 97 seconds left. Chittenden finished with 12 points, eight  in the second half.  Bustos finished with seven points.

Seton commanded the first half by shooting well from the floor and defending staunchly in half court. The Sentinels made 12-of-18 shots from the field in the first half. Most of those baskets came in the paint and came from Wirth, Chittenden and reserve Julia Barcello.

The downside --  and what put Seton behind at halftime--  were miscues. Seton turned the ball over 10 times. Thunderbird capitalized often on those mistakes directly for its offense to counter Seton's precision shooting.

 It was the second year in a row Seton Catholic  (29-3) toppled every opponent in the  tournament  by double-digit margins on its way to the championship although this game was far different than any of the others.  Thunderbird (24-7) was aiming for its first girls basketball title since 2005, a run that netted the Chiefs three titles in four years (2002, 2003 and 2005). Hess and Southwick combined for 40 points -- 21 and 19. They scored all 22 of Thunderbird's points in the second half.