Red Mountain and Mesa High might have contemplated a sleep-over the way their contest was progressing --- or not -- at Jackrabbit Gym on Thursday night .

Between the 70 free throws they combined to shoot and a 10-minute delay following a false (fire) alarm, Red Mountain finally got to board its bus around 9:30 and head home with a 48-42 win over Mesa.

The loss was only the second this season for Mesa High (14-2 overall, 6-1 power-ranking games), which is competing in Division II this season and on its way to a third consecutive winning season under coach Brock Landis. Mesa was second in the D-II power rankings behind Seton Catholic entering the contest. It's only other loss was to Sierra Linda in the finals of the Lady Titan Classic prior to Christmas. Red Mountain, competing in Division I, improved to 10-5, 6-1 in the foul-ridden contest.

"It was hard for either team to get into any kind of flow," Red Mountain coach Martin Appel said. "It seemed like it would never end."

That was Appel being kind. Red Mountain's Seneca Richards scored a game-high 17 points, Richards was 12-for 17 from the free-throw line. Amaya West added nine points, sinking 7 of 9 free throws. Red Mountain was 25-for-43 overall from the free-throw line. Mesa finished 14-of-27 from the charity stripe. 

The game was close much of the first two and half quarters with Mesa leading most of that stretch. The Jackrabbits fell behind 22-21 at the half and endured their worst quarter in the third to trail 36-28 heading to the fourth. Red Mountain's lead grew to double digits in the final period and the Mountain Lions appeared on their way to blowing it open with 42-32 lead with 5:44 to play.

That's when the fire alarm sounded and the gym was evacuated for precautionary reasons while the situation was checked. Mesa was rejuvenated after play resumed going on an 8-0 run that cut the deficit to 42-40 with 4:02 to play. Threes by guard Lesly Martinez (12 points) and forward Diamond Fuller (team-high 16 points) fueled the run. Red Mountain maintained the lead the rest of the way. Free throws -- what else -- were the only points scored the final four minutes.

Foul trouble hurt Mesa more than Red Mountain. Three of Mesa's starters fouled out and the other two had four fouls each when the game ended. Mesa got virtually no minutes in the second half from four-year starter and top scorerr CarleyTurnbull because of foul trouble. Turnbull was assessed her third foul with 2:58 left in the second quarter. She surprisingly returned to the lineup less than a minute later and picked up her fourth with 1:46 left to the half. Turnbull did not start the second half and returned to the lineup with 2:30 left in the third, but fouled out just 32 seconds later..