Arizona schools rallied some the final two days of the annual Nike Tournament of Champions I girls basketball showcase in Chandler and Tempe with St. Marys and Mesa Mountain View posting the best showings among the 18 local teams teams competing.

Hamilton girls basketball coach Jeff Kain was not lulled to sleep when seeing his Monday, opponent -- Kennedale, Texas -- with just seven players in uniform. Kain had watched them over the weekend and knew his unbeaten Huskies were in for a battle. Kain was right as Kennedale use a late third-quarter surge to pave the way to a 62-48 win over the Huskies in the Nike Tournament of Champions at Chandler High.

Mesa Mountain View knew it had a size advantage as it warmed up to play Harvard Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.) on Sautrday afternoon. The Toros took their time often enough to seize that edge and it proved decisive in a 45-31 victory over the visiting Wolverines in the first round of the Nike Tournament of Champions I girls basketball tournament at Court One in Tempe.

What happens when two of the best teams in 4A-II get together in a pre-Christmas showdown? For the first 26 minutes, a blowout. But Thursday night a 4A-II girls basketball game between Seton Catholic and Flagstaff still had another six minutes to play. And fortunately for Seton, the game didn\'t last another minute. Defending 4A-II champ Seton saw a 20-point lead with 6:10 remaining get sliced to three in the final 50 seconds, but the host Sentinels managed to hang on for a 60-57 win over the Eagles.

Boulder Creek, Winslow lead boys\' basketball teams at Chinle High. Window Rock, Monument Valley are girls\' teams.

Chaparral basketball team holds on to defeat Red Mountain despite missing final seven free throws.

Hawks use defensive quickness to force Shadow Mountain turnovers in rematch of last year\'s Class 4A-I title game.

St. Mary\'s is favorite in 5A-I, but there are plenty of challengers in other classifications.

Victory over defending 5A-II champs serves as a confidence-builder.

St. Marys used pressure defense and the ability to score from all over on offense to send Highland to a rare girls basketball drubbing on Tuesday night.

With only three of six Mesa schools making the playoffs in football this season and all of them eliminated in the first round, basketball could not arrive fast enough.

He coached three girls state champion teams at Phoenix Thunderbird and three state runners-up.