The girl's final-four teams are now set for the Division-I Class semi-finals on Thursday night at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. The Division-I semi-finals were determined on Monday, as eight different teams took the floor in the D-I quarterfinals at Wells Fargo, with four teams emerging as the smoke cleared - setting the stage for this year's semi's.
In the first game of the day, #5 seed Hamilton High School upset #4 seed Westview HS (32-2) with a 48-29 victory. In the win, Hamilton controlled the game from the outset, jumping out to a 28-13 lead by the half. Westview only scored 3 points in the game's first quarter, as Hamilton's defense was enough to shut Westview's strong guard play down.
Westview made the game close in the third period, climbing back to within 6 points at the start of the fourth period, but Hamilton's defense was strong enough to get the job done.
Hamilton senior forward Kyndall Adams (Idaho State signee) finished with a game-high 16 points in the win, while Aliyah Dickson had 12 points.
Hamilton will now face #1 seed and nationally ranked St. Mary’s HS in the Division-I semi-finals. St. Mary's blew out #8 seed Chandler HS, 57-31, in their quarterfinal matchup on Monday evening. The last time Hamilton and St. Mary's faced off during the season, the Knights knocked off Hamilton, 57-39. St. Mary's has not lost to an Arizona high school girl's program in three seasons. The contest between Hamilton and St. Mary's will also be a rematch of last year's Division-I state championship game.
The second quarterfinal matchup featured two of the state's most talented teams, as #3 seed Pinnacle HS (31-2) and #6 seed Dobson (22-7) faced off, only to see Pinnacle walk away with the 55-43 victory - advancing to the Division-I semi-finals at Arizona State’s Wells Fargo Arena on Thursday.
The win was the 10th victory in a row for Pinnacle, since their loss to St. Mary's HS in January.
Pinnacle’s defense was the key to their victory over Dobson, as they built a 30-19 lead by halftime. Pinnacle held on to a 45-37 lead heading into the fourth quarter, and with Dobson looking to come from behind, managed to hold Dobson to just five points in the final 8 minutes of the contest.
6-foot-1 talented senior guard Sydney Wiese (Oregon State signee) finished with a team-high 11 points in the victory, while 5-foot-9 junior Danielle Bender contributed 8 points.
Pinnacle advances to play #2 seed Highland HS on Thursday in the semi-finals at Wells Fargo Arena.
#2 seed Highland HS (32-2) continued their terrific season on Monday evening with a big, 62-55 victory over #7 seed Mountain Pointe HS. The win came as a big part of the performance of 5-foot-11 senior forward Rebecca Rudd (Concordia College commit).
Rudd exploded on Monday evening for a game and career-high 29 points on 15-for-22 from the field. Rudd had 8 of her team's first 11 points in the first quarter of the game - giving Highland a big lead over Mountain Pointe (26-6) in the first half. Rudd finished with 17 points in the first half.
Rudd's big first half performance helped Highland build a nice 32-21 lead at the half. After outscoring Mountain Pointe 15 to 7 in the third quarter, Highland would build their lead to 19 points heading into the fourth.
Highland would hold on to win the game after a late charge by the Pride.
