All five seniors of Marcos de Niza took the floor as starters for the last time in their home gym on Friday night.

A ceremony honoring the seniors took place before the game where the girls received an introduction by second-year coach Lashieka Holley, and flowers. They were greeted by their families and took photos together prior to tipoff.

Rhoda Acheampong won the tip but that would be one of the few things to go the way of the Padres. While four of the five seniors scored for the Padres, they failed to get any consistency and suffered a lopsided loss to the Sabercats, 82-14.

Saguaro (9-8, 4-5) took both games against Marcos de Niza this season and Coach Aria Ham attributed their success to strong defensive play.

“We set a goal before of how many points we would allow in a quarter and they definitely succeeded,” Ham said.

The Padres couldn’t figure out how to beat the Sabercats' full-court press and failed to score more than four points in any quarter.

The Padres also were unable to stop Sabercats senior Julianne Carlisle despite suffering an ankle injury that sidelined her just before halftime. She returned after halftime and finished with 26 points.

Despite the loss, Holley is happy with the growth her team has shown over the course of the season.

“I’m very proud of the development that they’ve put in this year," she said. "Anyone that saw our first half of the season to the end of the season would see a definite improvement.”

Holley said that all but one of her seniors were new to the game of basketball and were  in their first year playing for the varsity team. Bianca Martinez-Mason, a senior and the only returning varsity player from last year, had a hard time coming to grips with her final home game.

“I’ve been playing for 13 years," she said. "This is my favorite sport… I’m so not ready for it to be the last game.”

Holley is reluctant to watch her seniors leave but is already looking forward to next season. With 10 of the girls eligible to return, the Padres coach is excited to continue to work with and improve upon the talents of the younger girls.

“The future of this program is very bright,” she said.

Freshman Tamasha Laster backed this statement up and caused the crowd to erupt with a loud block with 5:43 to go in the fourth quarter.

Though the Padres will sorely miss the five seniors, they were sent off with cake and nothing but praise from their coaches and teammates.

The Padres (2-19, 0-9) will look to get their first conference win in their final game on the road Tuesday night against first-place Seton Catholic (20-6, 8-1).