Lainhart, Silverado topple Desert Pines

Sometime early in the fourth quarter of Tuesday's Sunrise Region girls basketball quarterfinal at Desert Pines, Natalie Lainhart decided her team wasn't about to lose.

The Silverado junior forward came to that conclusion when her team trailed the Northeast League champion Jaguars by 11 points.

That's when she took matters into her hands.

Lainhart scored all the Skyhawks' points in an 11-2 run in about 3½ minutes, helping Silverado force overtime, then scored two points and had three rebounds in OT as the Skyhawks pulled out a 63-62 win.

The Skyhawks, 19-8 overall and the Southeast's No. 4 seed, will face Green Valley in a Sunrise semifinal at 6:20 p.m. Thursday at Liberty. Foothill plays Liberty in the other semifinal, at 3 Thursday.

"We just came out with intensity and with the mindset that we weren't going to lose the game," Lainhart said.

Lainhart had six points and six rebounds after three quarters. She finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds.

"Natalie is our best defensive player, hands down," Silverado coach Kelli Mathews said. "When she gets focused, she gets the whole team fired up. When she plays hard-nosed defense, her offense turns right around."

Lainhart's play was a huge reason the Jaguars (17-12) went cold from the field in the fourth quarter. In the final eight minutes of regulation, the Jaguars made 2 of 18 shots and had five turnovers.

"We turned up our defensive intensity," Mathews said. "The girls picked it up, put a lot of pressure on them."

Everything Desert Pines did to build leads of 36-21 at halftime and 47-34 after three quarters no longer worked.

Shea Collins scored 16 points and Jessica Meyers 13 for the Skyhawks. Diamond Wright had 10 points and 19 rebounds for Silverado.

Ta'Quiyyah Boyles had 21 points and 13 rebounds for the Jaguars. LaBrea Walker had 16 points and Claudia Meneses and Theresia Williams 10 each. Meneses had 17 rebounds.

■ Foothill 50, Las Vegas 39 - At Las Vegas, Cheryl Harless scored 15 points and Bri Higgins 14 as the Falcons (18-10) knocked off the Wildcats.

Shomari Harris led Las Vegas (16-12) with 13 points.

■ Liberty 65, Valley 37 - At Liberty, Amanda Delgado had 17 points, five rebounds and four assists, and Daynice Cochran had 16 points and 10 rebounds to help the Patriots (23-4) oust the Vikings (11-13).

Destiny Whitehead had 10 points, and Jade Washington supplied eight points and eight assists for Liberty.

Jessica Walton had 14 points to lead Valley.

■ Green Valley 80, Canyon Springs 44 - At Green Valley, Angelica Mack and Sara Pickus each scored 20 points as the Gators (23-4) dominated.

Pickus had 18 rebounds and Mack 13.

Jasmine Jarvis had 19 points and nine assists and Danielle Christensen 12 points for Green Valley, which led 46-18 at halftime.

Kenosha Wright had 14 points to lead Canyon Springs (19-12).