Chandler High played the game it wanted  against St. Mary's for the first 15 minutes of the 5A-I girls basketball championship game on Friday. It was that last minute of the half  that was ugly and esentially ended the Wolves hope of claiming the title

St.. Mary's used an 9-0 run to end the first half and that opened the gates to a 73-60 win over Chandler at Jobing.com Arena.

It's the first title for St. Mary's (28-2) since 2006. The Lady Knights dropped the last two title games to Highland and Dobson, respectively. Starting two juniors, two sophomores and a freshman, St. Mary's played like a veteran team despite their youth by grade. Chandler was looking for its first title since 2000.

Chandler (25-6) trailed 17-16 after the first period and led much of the second. The teams were tied at 35 with just more than one minute left before halftime. A rash of Chandler turnovers and poor transition by Chandler saw the Knights score nine points in 40 seconds to take a 44-35 lead at intermission.

"The first half we struggled some," St. Mary's coach Curtis Ekmark said. "We were looking for one of those runs we usually get. We've made those runs before, and we finally got one. This is a young group, but  they kept their composure."

Chandler hoped to regroup and regain momentun to begin the second half, butthe first minute of the second half produced a 6-0 burst to improve the margin to 50-35. Chandler never recovered.

Chandler, which is used to winning the turnover battle in games, were badly beaten in that category Friday. Chandler had 17 turnovers; St. Mary's had eight through three quarters when the game was decided.

Chandler coach Zon Thompson opted not to call a timeout after the 9-0 run began late in the first half and regretted it a bit after the game.

"We wanted to give them time to work through it, give them trust and confidence," Thompson said. "We usually come back from runs like that. Tonight we didn't."

Freshman Courtney Ekmark led St.. Mary's with 22 points, matching her uniform number. Before that junior Shilpa Tummala hurt Chandler with 18 points in 2 1/2 quarters. Tummala left in the third period with a bruised shoulder that was on ice as she celebrated with the championship trophy,

"This is an amazing feeling," Tummala said. "So much better than the last two years. I know how it feels to lose games like this. I didn't want to feel it again.

"The key for us was calming down in the second quarter, and passing the ball better. We knew a run would come and it did at the right time."

Chandler was led by junior post Je Zhe Newton with 21 points. Raven Anderson and Dezirae Elias added 10 points each. The Wolves return three starters next season and will use the loss as motivation to chase the Knights again next season.