Thatcher coach Dennis Griffin was worried. His Eagles had gone toe-to-toe with top-seeded Camp Verde all game, but with less than four minutes left trailed by five. A huge deficit in this game.

"At that point I wasn't sure we could win it," Griffin said. 

But free-throw shooting by Cassidy Wakefield and Taya Baldwin in the final 3:28 plus a huge basket by Marleigh Nicholas added up to a 51-50 victory for the Eagles over the Cowboys on Saturday in the 2A title game.

Thatcher (28-4) won its first title since 2016 and ninth in school history. Camp Verde (29-3) lost its bid for a the first title since the only one back in 1989. 

The decisive basket of the game came with 35 seconds left and score knotted at 48. Nicholas, a junior guard, was open left of the lane and quickly put up about a 12-foot jumper that swished.  That gave Thatcher the lead for good at 50-48. Six free throws - four by Wakefield (team-high 19 points) and two by Baldwin (12 points) aided in tying the game at 48. Baldwin added one more free throw for insurance with 13 seconds left.

"Marleigh didn't get many shots before that, "Griffin said. '"It was ice." 

Nicholas wasn't sure if the shot was going to  fall when it left her hand. It was her only field goal of the game.

"I thought it was an air ball," Nicholas said. "It feels great it helped us win. I was worried in the last quarter."

Thatcher girls basketball displays the school's ninth title banner. (AzPreps365 photo)

The loss was a tough one for Camp Verde. The teams shared the lead equally timewise, but the Cowboys had their biggest lead at 47-42 with 4:36 to play. A putback by Jacy Finley at the buzzer was the only basket Camp Verde scored down the stretch.

Finley, a 6-foot-4 senior, put up another huge game. She finished with a game-high 24 points to go with 17 rebounds and six blocked shots. Teammate Amanda Lozanilla dropped in 14 points, including a pair of threes. Finley averaged 22.5 points a game and 15 rebounds per game in four playoff games.