PHOENIX — After each of the Salpointe Catholic High School’s girls basketball team’s first three wins during the 2024 Arizona Class 4A state basketball tournament, it was what the Lancers didn’t do all that much of that actually stood out a bit.
They didn’t outwardly celebrate their playoff victories — or at least not a lot. East step along the way, there was another task to do.
But that job is now complete. The top-ranked Lancers celebrated plenty Thursday night in Phoenix after Salpointe (27-4) defeated No. 2 Gilbert Mesquite (26-5) 59-49 in the 4A title game, a win that gives coach Joseph Luevano’s program its second state championship in the last three seasons.
“The first round, quarterfinals, semifinals — we didn’t celebrate them very much. We played those games expecting to win,†Luevano said, clutching the golden ball championship trophy, only reluctantly giving it up when a team staffer needed it for postgame photos with Luevano’s players.
But after this one? “It was celebration at the end there, and it was relief.â€
Luevano was clear that his Lancers expected to win Thursday, too. But that final buzzer sounding inside Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum still offered the release of air the Lancers had been waiting for.
“Coach always says ‘chip on our shoulder, chip on our shoulder,’†Salpointe junior Sidney Anderson said. “There’s no one else after this. This is why we’re celebrating.
“And it’s just a great feeling to be able to celebrate all of us – the seniors who are leaving us, AJ (Ajong Lual), Isabelle (Ramos) and Josi (Muro). And we’re just so excited to send them off right.â€
In Thursday’s title tilt against Mesquite, it was Anderson and fellow junior Taliya Henderson who, not unexpectedly, led the way offensively for Salpointe. Anderson finished with 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting; she also drained a number of clutch free throws down the stretch as the Wildcats sliced and diced what was at one point a 17-point Salpointe lead to just a two-possession difference in the final minutes.
Henderson paced the Lancers with 18 points and eight rebounds, with Jordan Watts, also a junior, dropping 10 more in a team-high 27-plus minutes.
Henderson, Salpointe’s leader in points per game and a four-star recruit considered one of the top 35-or-so Class of 2025 college prospects by ESPN, did eat a few extra minutes on the bench Thursday after ending up in foul trouble and then taking a hard late foul in the post after she was effectively slammed to the floor hard, appearing to land on to her back.
But whenever Henderson was on the court, Salpointe was rolling. The Lancers outscored Mesquite by 24 points during the 25 minutes and change Henderson was in the game.
“Taliyah, to keep her cool as she was getting in there,†Luevano said. “She’s difficult to officiate because she attacks the basket aggressively and it just always feels like they allow her to get played on a little bit and she gets beat up. Today was no different and to her credit, she got in foul trouble herself. That kid right there is a champion.
“I don’t know, I think she’s like a 10-time (state) champion now between track and basketball,†he added. “And she shows it. She shows it by keeping her composure. … She played the last seven minutes of that game without picking up her fifth foul, staying under control and collected. She is who she is, and she’s a champion.â€
Yet Henderson praised Salpointe’s bench crew as the heroes in this one.
“Everybody that comes off the bench has a goal in mind. They’re super energized and leaving it all the court and that’s what helps us win,†she said. “Our whole team came together.â€
Salpointe jumped out early and led by seven after the first quarter, then 17 at the half; that would be the Lancers’ largest lead. Mesquite, which was paced offensively by Navae Guidry’s 18 points and 10 rebounds with Kahlia Gonzales chipping in 15, cut it to 10 at the end of three, and closed the gap late.
“We got the buckets that we needed when we needed to,†Luevano said. “We made the free throws that we needed to make that were timely and we got the defensive stops that we ultimately needed to, even when the momentum and everything was shifting on us.â€
But Luevano said it was his players’ composure that won out in the end.
“They’re so talented,†he said. “So we can do various things with them and put them in situations to be successful. You saw that in spurts today. We got a little nervous under the moment, under the pressure of it. But when it all came down to the end, to their credit, they took care of business.â€
Playing in Phoenix for the title round, it was clear from the get that Salpointe had its hometown on its mind. The Lancers’ shooting shirts worn during pregame warmups included the school’s classic “SC†logo, but also the word “Tucson†in big block letters across the chest.
“It’s underrated. It’s underappreciated,†Luevano said of the quality of Tucson basketball, adding that he was pulling for Sahuaro’s boys team to win another Southern Arizona crown in the nightcap.
“There’s a lot of people in different areas that have doubted us. We’ve kind of faced that,†Henderson added. “And we came out and faced all the other talk. We’re here, we had one mindset and it was to win the gold ball and we were able to do that today.â€
Photos: Salpointe runs by Mesquite 59-49 for the 4A state championship, girls basketball
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The Salpointe Catholic Lancers hoist the Class 4A state championship trophy after defeating Gilbert Mesquite 59-49 Thursday at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.
Salpointe’s Ajong Lual (20), left, Sidney Anderson (33) and Hannah Williams (30) throw up a wall to stop Mesquite’s Navae Guidry (10) during the 4A championship game Thursday in Phoenix.
Mesquite’s Pippa Krieger (13), left, and Salpointe’s Taliyah Henderson (3) race for control of a loose ball in during Thursday’s 4A state championship.
Salpointe’s bench charges the court in celebration as time runs out on their championship victory over Gilbert Mesquite Thursday at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.
Salpointe head coach Joseph Luevano huddles with the Lancers on Thursday before they take the floor against Gilbert Mesquite for the Arizona Class 4A state championship in Phoenix.
Salpointe’s Jayci Nelson (2) fens off Mesquite’s Pippa Krieger (13) during the Lancers’ Arizona 4A state championship victory Thursday in Phoenix.