Seton Catholic and Shadow Mountain have picked up where they left off last season after the first two weeks of the 2019-2020 season.

The teams - the finalists in last year's 4A championship game with Shadow Mountain the champ - brought unbeaten records to a regular-season showdown Tuesday at Seton and it turned out to be an intense grinder of a game.

Seton's 7-0 burst in the final 1:21 turned back the only lead Shadow Mountain possessed in the game a minute earlier as the Sentinels hung on for a 61-56 victory over the Matadors.

Seton (4-0), which led by 17 after the first quarter and as many as 19 in the first half, saw its lead shaved to eight at halftime and just two heading to the final period. 

The teams battled in a rugged final quarter with turnovers and missed shots dominating the stanza. Seton kept its lead until 2:23 remained. Senior guard Senya Rabouin (game-high 25 points) gave Shadow Mountain (8-1) its only lead with a long-range three, 54-53. It was the fifth three of the game for Rabouin.

The teams traded turnovers over the next minute and Seton regained the lead for good as Sasha Daniel sank two free throws with 1:21 to go. On Shadow's next possession, Seton's Amanda Barcello stole the ball just across midcourt and flipped it to Daniel. Daniel alertly passed it to the trailer on the play -- LeeLee Willis - who took it the basket, scored and completed a three-point play for a 58-54 advantage with 1:09 to go. 

Seton put the game away with two more Willis' free throws with 26 seconds left and fiercely defended three-point shots twice by Rabouin in the final minute that were off the mark.

"We withstood the storm," Seton coach Karen Self said. "They are a great team. We started well and shot well, but they absolutely killed us on the boards in the second quarter to get back in it. It was an ugly win after the first quarter we had. I think everyone knew we weren't going to keep shooting as well as we did with 3s."

Shadow Mountain coach Erica Matthews remembered her team's rally last January from a huge deficit at Mesquite in th first quarter. She thought after the second quarter it could happen again.

"Just a few too many mistakes at the end," Matthews said. "Both teams made adjustments as the game went on and played great defense."

Seton was led offensively by Lexi McNabb with 16 points and balance followed with Amelie Cartagena off the bench with nine points, Barcello, Daniel and Bella DiGiovanni with eight apiece and Willis with seven. Joining Rabouin in double figures was fellow senior Dyamond Butler-Worley with 15 points.