Emotions ran high Thursday night as Thunderbird defeated St Mary’s 53-50 in girls basketball.

In the last six seconds of the game, emotions got the best of some of the players. A flagrant foul was called on St. Mary’s, which resulted in several players getting into a scuffle. With some of St. Mary’s players leaving the bench to defend their teammates, the Knights ended up with two technical fouls while the Chiefs were given one.

The fouls only helped further secure the win as the Chiefs (19-7) had already been leading and there were only seconds left on the clock.

The Knights (14-7)  took the lead early, going on an 11-0 run in the first quarter. Their defense stood strong as the team kept the pressure offensively and it showed in the 14-6 score at the end of the quarter.

Despite the strong start, the Knights struggled in the second period, allowing the Chiefs to make the game close.

“The biggest issue was that we had two of our starters get two fouls in the first quarter,” said Knights head coach Liberty Brittain. “I had to sit both of them the whole second quarter.”

One of those players was senior Beyonce Jordan, who is St. Mary’s leading scorer. Jordan scored 19 points in the game and was a force when she was on the court. Brittain made the importance of Jordan clear.

“Beyonce is a very important player so if she goes out we don’t have a lot of players who can step in and play her role,” Brittain said.

The Chiefs also knew of Jordan’s importance. Thunderbird head coach Barry Ringel said, “[Jordan] is an amazing player and she was kind of doing what she wanted. Then we started to focus a little bit on her.”

In the second half, Jordan became the focus of the Chiefs' defense. The team switched to a man-to-man scheme. “I put one of our better defenders on her,” said Ringel. “We were trying to deny [Jordan] the ball and I think that helped with our success defensively.”

The change seemingly worked as the Chiefs took the lead in the second half and St. Mary’s struggled to keep up. The two teams continued to fight through a third quarter that saw several lead changes.

This game was a rematch of an earlier meeting that was at St. Mary’s, a game that the Knights won by 30 points.

“My mindset was I was not going to lose, I was not losing to them again. I want this.” said senior Alexis Carmosino of the Chiefs,  the team’s leading scorer.

Carmosino also said that the key play that sealed the win was when teammate Alea Lethridge hit a three-pointer for the lead with two minutes left. “Once she hit that three, I knew it was over.”

Jordan suffered a head injury and had to be examined after the game. “She is probably concussed, she had a concussion over Christmas break,’ said Brittain. “Her parents are going to check her out, she’s going to the hospital I think.”

The loss of Jordan would be a hard one for the team as they still have two more regular season games to play. The Knights already have a playoff spot but are still fighting for better seeding.

Meanwhile the Chiefs ended the regular season Thursday and are excited for the playoffs.  To Carmosino, this felt like a playoff win.

“I’m trying to win state, that is my main goal,” She said. “If that doesn’t happen then I’m still happy with the season… I’m happy with my teammates, they’re family forever.”