Not much changed in the two months plus since Gilbert High and Desert Mountain played in girls basketball on Nov. 19. 

The only difference was Gilbert kicked into gear earlier - not good news for Desert Mountain and a damper for Wolves' coach Alicia Sanchez on her birthday.

Gilbert opened up a double-digit lead in the first quarter and never looked back on Wednesday in dealing host Desert Mountain a 67-31 defeat in a 5A non-region contest of top 4 teams.

The first meeting that opened the season was a Tigers' 69-40 triumph.  Desert Mountain was still close at halftime in the that meeting, down nine at the break.

"We started faster this time and put the pedal to the metal," Gilbert coach Kyle Pedersen said. "The defense was good, and other than some moments in the third quarter I'm pleased."

The usual suspects paced No. 2 Gilbert (19-5, 14-1) to its 11th victory in a row. Senior guards Haley Cavinder and Hanna Cavinder, recent members of the girls hoops 2,000 point club, tallied 21 and 16 points, respectively.  Senior Brynn Wade was typically sharp adding 20 points and eight rebounds and connected on 9 of 11 shots from the field. The Cavinders handed out six assists apiece.

No. 4 Desert Mountain (19-6 overall, 14-2 prg) lost all the statisical battles in the opening half. The Wolves were outrebounded and put put up 12 fewer shots than Gilbert. Also committed 12 turnovers  to Gilbert's 4. Gilbert shot 52 percent in the first half to 33 percent for Desert Mountain. Nothing to sugar coat in this one.

Desert Mountain didn't get many looks in the paint in the first half. Half its shots were from three-point range. Junior Sophie Gerber led the Wolves with 13 points and season-leading scorer Kelsea Hurley finished with seven - half her average.

In the second half Desert Mountain was desperate for points and resorted almost exclusively to threes with little success. The Wolves  weren't able to dent a 37-16 deficit at intermission ever in the second half.