Salpointe's Tessa Hastings second-to-the-last contribution on Saturday afternoon was a situation-changer in the final 13 seconds of the Lancers' key 4A game at Mesquite.

Salpointe led at the time, 51-48, after teammate Kylee Callahan had made the first shot of a one-and-one. Callahan's second shot missed but Hastings managed to nab the rebound. Hastings was fouled immediately and sank both ends of a one-and-one to finish off a 53-48 victory in a clash of two top-4 4A girls basketball teams at Mesquite High.

Salpointe's win capped a week of four tough games -- all against playoff-bound teams in 6A, 5A and 4A. The Lancers, No. 3 in the 4A power-rankings, prevailed in three of the four, topping 5A Flowing Wells by four, losing to 4A No. 2 Sahuaro by 14 and edging 6A Rincon by six and and No. 4 in 4A Mesquite. Salpointe is 12-1 overall. Mesquite suffered is second loss (6A Valley Vista) of the week, but remains a healthy 12-3 overall. 

Hastings, a 5--foot-11 junior forward, led all scorers with 19 points. Hastings did damage offensively often in transition. 

"I refer to her as our swiss army knife," Salpointe coach Joseph Luevano said. "She does a a little bit of everything. She helps create things for others on offense. She's lean and long and lot of times is the one that gets a hand on a ball that gets us a turnover and she ends up finishing."

Guard Jaya Nelson also scored in double figures for the Lancers adding 13 points. Fellow starters Callahan and Madeline Namanny chipped in seven points each and point guard Bria Medina netted five points. Namanny grabbed 16 rebounds to augment her stat line.

Mesquite coach Candice Gonzales winced at watching Salpointe capture the missed free-throw rebound in the waning seconds. 

"That's a rebound we have to have," Gonzales said. "We block out and we have the ball. We can call timeout and set up a play that gives us a chance to tie."

Mesquite's attack as usual was paced by senior guard Alaya Fitzgerald, who led all scorers with 22 points and added 10 rebounds. Priscila Varela added 10 points before fouling out with 13 seconds left. 

Shooting prowess has haunted Mesquite in its three losses. Mesquite made 30 percent of its shots (18 of 60) vs. Salpointe. The Wildcats' losses to Seton and Valley Vista featured shooting percentages of 25 and 30 percent, respectively.

"We have to start shooting the ball better against the better teams," Gonzales said. "We had a lot of good shots today, but they aren't falling. If we can't shoot better than we have against those teams, we don't have a chance to beat them."

Salpointe has three games left next week, the final week of the the regular season. The Lancers play at Catalina Foothills on Monday, visit Pueblo on Thursday and have a region rematch at home with Sahuaro on Friday. Mesquite finishes with road games Tuesday at Saguaro and Friday at Seton.