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Posted by Quentin Jodie | Mar 5, 2015 | Basketball |

Page girls cap year at 35-1 with state title

Page Lady Sand Devil Brooke Lister kisses the Division III state trophy as her teammate Ashley Dempsey waits her turn on Saturday after defeating Tuba City in the state championship game at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Ariz. Page defeated the Lady Warriors, 54-42. (Times photo – Donovan Quintero)

GLENDALE, Ariz.

The Page Lady Sand Devils and their fans raise their arms in victory when the buzzerd indicates the game has ended on Saturday during the Division III state championship game against the Tuba City Lady Warriors at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Ariz. (Times photo – Donovan Quintero)

After dominating all season, the Page girls basketball team won its fourth state crown, the second under head coach Justin Smith on Saturday night.

With that Page capped the year at 35-1, which is the most wins in school history.

The Sand Devils chipped away at a 10-point deficit in the second half and rode out that momentum to score a hard-fought 56-42 victory over league rival Tuba City, before a large capacity crowd at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Ariz.

In doing so, the Sand Devils ended Tuba City’s magic carpet ride through the Division III state tournament. The upstart Warriors upset top seed and previously unbeaten Valley Christian in the quarterfinals before sending No. 4 seed Safford packing.

“To be honest, I thought we were the better team,” Smith said. “They have some great players, but we had a better team. Not to take anything away from Tuba City, Tate Tsingine is the best player that I’ve ever coached against, and I’ve been in a lot of games.”

After Page opened the game by scoring the first 13 points, Tsingine went to work and carried her team on her back.
The talented Tuba City forward got the Warriors going with a midrange jumper with 3:12 to go.