Sahuaro standout Alyssa Brown & Ma'Kayla Dickerson of Fairfax. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365.com)

 

 

 

No. 3 Sahuaro beat No. 14 Fairfax 54-41 Wednesday night at home to advance to the 5A quarterfinal round to be played on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. Sahuaro (25-2) will host No. 11 Cienega (16-8).

The Bobcats upset No. 6 Apollo 57-50 to set up the quarterfinal clash with the Cougars. Sahuaro and Cienega are members of the 5A Southern Region and the Cougars went 2-0 in head-to-head matches against the Bobcats to help clinch the region title with an 8-0 record.

Like Sahuaro, Fairfax dominated the 5A Union Region with a 10-0 mark and finished the overall season with a 20-6 record. Junior captain Ma'Kayla Dickerson led the Stampede with 21 points in the loss to Sahuaro and her presence on the court kept the game within striking distance.

“If I wasn’t in foul trouble I could have stayed on the court longer,” Dickerson said. “We need all of our starters out there to make our chemistry work.”

The Stampede challenged the Cougars for every rebound and most of their points came on second and third chances, but they couldn’t account for Sahuaro freshman Alyssa Brown at the other end of the court.

Brown also scored 21 points but she also drew nine fouls, putting the Stampede in difficult defensive matchups.

“It’s been a crazy year, pulling out a lot of wins against good teams,” Brown said. “We just have to get back to fundamentals and get after it.”

In other action from Southern Arizona, No. 9 Tucson beat No. 8 Red Mountain to advance to the 6A quarterfinal round on the girl’s side while No. 10 Marana and No. 12 Ironwood Ridge lost in the 5A bracket.

For the boys, No. 3 Catalina Foothills, No. 10 Nogales and No. 11 Salpointe swept through the 4A playoffs. Nogales eliminated No. 7 Palo Verde 50-42.

Catalina Foothills will host Salpointe on Saturday night for a shot at the semifinal round. The Falcons finished the season 17-1 in power-ranking games and the one loss was to Salpointe (66-62) at home on Feb. 1, two weeks after beating the Lancers 59-58 at Salpointe.

The Salpointe/Catalina Foothills rivalry heated up last year after the Lancers erased an 0-9 streak against the Falcons with a 57-55 overtime victory in the 4A semifinal round. The win streak against Salpointe dated back to January of 2012.

No. 12 Empire advances in 3A boy's  action.