Mountain Pointe hasn't enjoyed a season without its trials. The main one was a coaching change prior to the season and once school was in session after the summer break. That resulted in elevating longtime assistant coach Donnis Henry to the mentor's seat. 

It took a little while to get the program on an even keel, but the fruits of that have come - many of them since January. The Pride are 11-2 since Jan. 7.

"After the Nike TOC we hit the reset button," Henry, a veteran of nine years on the girls hoops staff in some capacity or other, said. "It's exciting to see how far the girls have come. They won a region title. Played  and a good game tonight."

No. 9 Mountain Pointe scored the first six points of the game and never faltered Tuesday night on the way to a convincing 54-33 vicorty over host and No. 8 Dobson in a 6A first-round state tournament game.

Mountain Pointe (16-6) moves on to Thursday's quarterfinals where it visits top-seed Valley Vista at 7 p..m. The Pride beat Cesar Chavez last week in a play-in game by 17 to reach state. Dobson, runner-up in the East Valley Region to Westwood, finished 21-8, a complete turnaround over last season's 9-20 mark for the Mustangs. Dobson's loss was the first time this season it dropped consecutive games.

Mountain Pointe led 12-4 after the opening quarter, 27-16 at halftime and 39-26 after three periods. Dobson made runs in the second and third quarters that had makings of a bonafide comback. Each time, however, the run was short-lived.

"One of our things before the game was to limit our self-destruct," Henry said. "We had a couple of those tonight. The girls showed they've matured in that area. They knew how to answer those and they did."

Mountain Pointe used eight players and each of them scored. Top scorer was 6-foot-1 junior post A'laysah Clark. Clark dug in at the post and finished with 15 points in a reserve role. Point guard Faith Diggs was next with 11 points and Gabby Okojie added nine points. 

"They answered every run we made," Dobson coach Henry Bribiescas said. "They set the tone right from the beginning. We had some defensive breakdowns inside and let their big girl bury herself deep. Give them credit they controlled the game. It was an untypical performance for us on defense. "

Bribiescas is buoyed by the fact he has several key players back next season. Freshman Aaliyah Garcia, who led the Mustangs with 11 points and played a gutty second half despite a leg injury. Also back are juniors Rachel Early and Jaden Leslie the Mustangs' leading scorers this season. Both averaged in double figures. Early scored nine points and Leslie seven in Tuesday's defeat.