No. 4 Surprise Paradise Honors upset host No. 1 Salpointe Catholic 56-54 on Tuesday night, advancing to the finals in the 4A state tournament Thursday at 6 p.m. at Phoenix’s Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Paradise Honors (25-6) will play No. 6 Gilbert Mesquite (21-9) in the championship. Mesquite, which won at Mica Mountain on Saturday in a quarterfinal game, traveled to No. 2 Prescott on Tuesday and won 58-54 in overtime.
Salpointe, which does not have a senior, finished its season 28-5, achieving the most wins in a season in program history.
The Lancers were without starting junior forward Aryanna Kollasch, who injured her knee in Saturday’s quarterfinal win over visiting Cave Creek Cactus Shadows. Kollasch averaged 9.7 points and 5.2 rebounds per game this season.
Salpointe’s game with Paradise Honors was even for the majority of the first half. Paradise Honors got out to a quick 6-1 lead with two 3-pointers from sophomore guard Hala Aoufe and senior forward Star Nwabichie.
Salpointe Catholic’s offense got going behind junior guard Jayci Nelson, sister of Arizona guard and Salpointe great Evan Nelson, and sophomore center Abuk Lual to get back into the game, only being down 18-15 after the first quarter.
“This season, we started off with a young team. We’ve accomplished a lot, but we need to learn to stay calm and composed even in games like this,” Lual said in regards to the maturity level of the team full of underclassmen.
Lual, 6-foot-4, had 10 points, 12 rebounds and two blocked shots. She had seven double-doubles this season.
In the second quarter, freshman guard Kayla Del Rio hit back-to-back 3-pointers, giving the Lancers the lead. She finished with nine points.
Toward the end of the half, the Panthers went on a run behind Nwabichie to regain the lead in the final minute of the half, 30-29.
Two early post feeds to Lual got Salpointe going. Once she was taken out of the game after picking up a foul, Paradise Honors took advantage, regaining the lead and starting to build a little separation heading into the fourth quarter.
Freshman guard Erin Even came up huge for the Lancers in the fourth quarter, taking it herself for an and-one play and a 3-pointer to tie up the game with under three minutes to play.
She finished with a team-high 15 points.
Del Rio, Even and Jayda Nelson, all freshmen, accounted for 22 of Salpointe’s points.
A few stops by the Panthers and controlling the boards the last three minutes was just enough for them to secure a spot in the 4A state title game.
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