What happens when two of the best teams in 4A-II get together in a pre-Christmas showdown?

For the first 26 minutes, a blowout. But  Thursday night a 4A-II girls basketball game between Seton Catholic and Flagstaff still had another six minutes to play. And fortunately for Seton, the game didn't last another minute.

Defending 4A-II champ Seton saw a 20-point lead with 6:10 remaining get sliced to three in the final 50 seconds, but the host Sentinels managed to hang on for a 60-57 win over the Eagles.

"We played well the first half and then got a little tired in the second half," Seton coach Karen Self said. "When you're tired you start making mental mistakes. Luckily we had a nice lead. They came back at us. That's why you play four quarters."

Seton senior forward Theresa Wirth led all scorers with 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Her critical points were seven in the final period when offense was hard to come by. Teammates Kayla Bustos and Anne Marie Holter chipped in with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Holter tallied 10 of her 13 in the first half.

Seton led by as many as 12 points in the first period and as much as 18 in the second quarter. The Sentinels (10-1) settled for a 35-18 lead at intermission, taking charge mainly due to superior shooting. Seton shot 48 percent from the field (13-of-27 field goals) in the first half while Flagstaff managed 8-of-33 (24 percent). It didn't help Flagstaff that leading scorer Ilena Johnson made just 3-of-10 shots from the field in the first half.

Flagstaff (9-1), which reached the 4A-II semifinals last year,  wasn't able to make a run at Seton until the final quarter mostly because of its shooting woes and foul trouble by Johnson. Johnson picked up three fouls with 3:29 left in the first half, but played through it. She notched her fourth foul with 5:53 left in the third period. Johnson didn't return until the 7:30 mark of the final period.

Johnson (18 points) and teammate Kia Sandoval combined to spark Flagstaff with a balance of inside and outside scoring. Johnson's quickness netted her 12 fourth-quarter points. Sandoval, who did not score in the first half, scored all 19 of her points in the final 1 1/2 quarters. She scored 14 in the final period. Sandoval hit 3 3-point field goals and made two sets of three free throws after being fouled on 3-point attempts.

Sandoval's last 3 pulled Flagstaff to within 57-54 with 46 seconds left. Two free throws by Seton's Colleen Chittendon and one by Holter kept the Eagles from paring the lead any further.

"Our plan was to let Ilena get her points and try and shut down the rest," Self said. "The first half they had only three players score so we did a good job. Sandoval came in and gave them a lift. She's a good player."