(Phoenix, AZ) Sabino beat Page, 42-35, in the 3A girls basketball state championship at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix on Saturday.
The top-seeded Sabercats (28-4) completed their season on a 17-game win streak and won their first state title since 1990.
It was redemption for Sabino after the Arizona Interscholastic Association called for a forfeiture of its run to the 3A semifinals one year ago, citing a “prior contact” recruitment violation of a former transfer player on its roster, according to Sabino assistant coach Jeremy Daniels.
“We won the (quarterfinal) game, got into the final four and then we got the phone call that we were kicked out. The kids were bummed. People don’t really know what it took for us to get here,” Daniels said. “That makes it even more special after what happened last year.”
Sabino head coach Jamaal Rhodes said everything fell into place this year.
“If you know the story, they said we recruited (her) to our school, but we didn’t…But she became a part of our family,” Rhodes said. “We put this into place two years ago and it’s coming into fruition now,”
Page (25-6) was the two-time defending champion and No. 2 seed in the 3A tournament. The Sand Devils had a 12-game win streak heading into the title game.
The majority of the game’s crowd was in support of Page, and the raucous atmosphere only motivated Sabino to rise to the occasion.
“They’ve been here an awful lot, so they’re accustomed to being here. These big games are their regular games. This crowd is there regular crowd,” Rhodes said about Page.
“And we’ve said this all year: the first thing we put on the board is poise. Whether it’s a crowd of 50 or a crowd of a couple thousand. Based on past events, even gym we walk into, we’re the villain. So we already know it’s going to be going against us. If they can stay together and stay poised, we’re good.”
Doty and Dorroh had game-highs of 15 points and 15 rebounds, respectively.
“His mind state causing us made us thrive in adversity,” Dorroh said. “In these situations when we were down by a little bit, it just made us so much stronger mentally as a team and as a group and I can just thank him for that.”
Page junior center Torrance Begay led the Sand Devils with team-highs in points (12) and rebounds (6).
It was a tight game from the start.
Sabino and Page traded one-point leads to end the first three quarters, (8-7, Sabino in the first; 18-17, Page in the second; 27-26, Sabino, in the third).
The final three minutes of the game were the most suspenseful of the game.
As Sabino was ahead 33-30, Dorroh tried to milk the clock near halfcourt with 1:22 remaining, but she was called for a five-second dribbling violation.
Page was later called for a critical five-second violation after it failed to inbound the ball in time under its own basket with 57 seconds left.
After Sabino’s Kiya Dorroh was fouled, she was sent to the free throw line as the Sabercats were in the double bonus.
She hit both free throws to put Sabino up, 35-30.
On Page’s following possession, Torrance Begay grabbed a rebound and scored a putback under the hoop.
Sabino’s Ella Berg, Doty and Dorroh hit several free throws to seal the victory.
“They have a lot of experience in this realm, so we’ll probably see them again,” Dorroh said about possibly facing Page in the 3A state championship again next season.
“But it means so much for us. I believe we were supposed to get it last year, too, and they took it away from us, so we just had so much extra motivation for it.”
Article by Dana Scott – Arizona Republic
