In 20 seasons at Buckeye High School, coach Regina Early has rarely if ever been on the wrong side of a running clock in the fourth quarter. But the Hawks ran into a buzzsaw Tuesday night at Seton Catholic, as the No. 5 Sentinels took down Buckeye, 60-31 in a first round Open Division playoff contest.

Seton (21-6) will host No. 21 seed Sunrise Mountain Thursday night in a second round Open Division matchup. Sunrise Mountain beat Sunnyside 47-41on the road in Tucson. Buckeye (18-9) will continue in the 5A playoff tournament next week.

Sophie Morales led Seton with 18 points while Carmella Gallardo added 17 points, as the pair combined to knock down seven three-pointers for the Sentinels. 

"We got off to a bit of slow start, so we knew we had to lock in after the first quarter," Morales said. "We had watched plenty of film of (Buckeye), so we knew how to position defensively, and once we started runnning our sets offense we really started playing good basketball."

Gallardo scored 10 of Seton's 18 first quarter points before Morales took the game into her own hands in the second, scoring 13 straight points and blowing the game wide open. After a three-point field goal by Raigan Gregston, Morales followed up with her own three pointer which gave the Sentinels a 24-12 lead. Two Buckeye possessions later, Morales took a steal and went the length of the court for a layup. Three more Seton Catholic possessions resulted in a pair of three-pointers and a jumper from near the free-throw line, all from Morales. 

An eight point lead after one quarter became a 36-14 lead by halftime, as Buckeye struggled to find shots in the second quarter. Forward Mia Dipuccio scored all 10 of her points in the third quarter to help the Sentinels keep rolling. Raigan Gregston added seven points for 4A Seton, which advanced to last year's Open Division quarterfinal round.

"There's a lot of talented teams in every conference, so we don't feel intimidated, we just want to keep winning," Morales added.

The Seton Catholic program has captured 12 state championships under current coach Karen Self, who won her 800th game earlier this season. Self's coaching career at Seton started in the 1992-93 season. Between Self and Buckeye coach Regina Early, the pair has a combined 51 seasons of coaching at their respective schools.

"Seton moved the ball very well and they also capitalized on turnovers," Early said of the game. "They kept hitting shots and we weren't hitting our shots. We got outworked."

Amayah Leyva led Buckeye with 12 points.

 

Ben Stapley is a staff writer for AZPreps365.com For human-interest story ideas and related high-school sports news, contact him at bstapley@azpreps365.com or 480 295-9125