It seemed to be feast or famine for the girls from Phoenix Mountain Pointe in their Division I basketball game at Phoenix Xavier Prep on Friday night (Dec. 14).

The Pride jumped to a seven-point lead after the first quarter, but Xavier came back to lead by one at the half.

Mountain Pointe outscored the Gators by 15 in the third quarter, and held off a late rally by Xavier for a 58-52 victory.

With its second victory over Xavier this season, Mountain Pointe climbed to 12-1. The Pride’s only loss was to Phoenix Pinnacle in the championship game of the (Gilbert) Highland Thanksgiving Tournament. Xavier, which lost its second straight, slipped to 8-3.

Mountain Pointe coach Trevor Neider had a little chat with his players at halftime.

“In the first half, our shots weren’t going in, and we were being outworked a little bit,’’ he said. “We told them they needed to crank up the intensity, and they did that. They did that, and they drew three charges (offensive fouls) in the third quarter.’’

The Pride seemed to have good balance on offense in the form of three double-figures scorers. Caitlyn Hetrick led the way with 18 points. Ashley Clubb had 13 and Kaylah Lupoe had 12.

Hetrick hit a pair of 3-pointers in the third quarter, including one just before the buzzer after gaining control of the ball in a scramble. Xavier managed just six points in the quarter.

Mountain Pointe scored the first six points of the fourth quarter, but Xavier wasn’t quite done.

Inside player Katie Werner went to work for the Gators, scoring nine of her game-high 20 points over the final five minutes during an 18-7 run, but Xavier ran out of time.

Mountain Pointe now will get some practice time in as it prepares for the upcoming Nike Tournament of Champions in Chandler.

“We have a real unselfish group. They don’t really care about stats,’’ Neider said.

Xavier returns to action on Monday night (Dec. 17) with a game at Scottsdale Chaparral.