Ironwood Ridge had a difficult time shaking Basha last night but the Nighthawks pulled away with a 51-46 win to improve to 7-1 in power ranking games. Oh, and along the way, senior standout Lexy Ram set an important scoring milestone.

Ram came into the game with 987 career points, which already put her as the leading scorer in school history, but it's the success of her team over the last couple of years that has set her on the path as the school's best ever.

It seemed like Ironwood Ridge was always on the brink of greatness. A 24-win season in 2011 resulted in a second-round loss, a 19-win season came with an early playoff exit as did an earlier 18-win season. Something was missing.

Then last year happened.

Something clicked and the Nighthawks found themselves on an incredible run, won 26 games, knocked off the top team in the state and made it to the Final Four of high school basketball. Magical.

"I saw something in my team when we played Sahuaro at the MLK Classic," head coach Nikki Simpson explained. "I saw them come together to get that win and I felt something good was about to happen. This team could do it."

Her team was 15-6 before that game held at McKale Center on the University of Arizona campus. Not very impressive with a couple of blow-out losses to start the year followed by huge losses to rivals Cienega, Tucson and Marana.

But then eight straight wins, including an overtime win over Marana in the sectional tournament proved that something did happen that day. Tucson beat them again in the sectional tournament but a first-round win over Gila Ridge put them back on their path.

Then came a second-round win at Cactus Shadows and that win set up a quarterfinal rematch with No. 1 Cienega five days later.

Down 30-28 Cactus Shadows at the half, Simpson felt it was time to talk to her team once again.

"I told them 16 minutes. Give me 16 minutes and you get five days," she added. "I think that's when a few more girls felt we could do this."

The Nighthawks played even in the third quarter but outscored Cactus Shadows 18-10 in the fourth for the biggest win program history. To that point.

Cienega was 30-0 and the top-ranked team in the state. the Bobcats had already decimated Ironwood Ridge 63-36 in early December. But this was late February.

"Coach told us that if we played a team like Cienega 10 times then we might lose nine but there is always that one time," Ram said. "One time to get it done."

Cienega led 20-16 at the half but a huge third quarter for the Nighthawks helped send the game to overtime where Ironwood Ridge pulled out a 47-43 win. The greatest win in program history.

Ram was limited to five points in the earlier loss but she scored 20 this time including a bucket and a free throw with 13 seconds left to preserve the win.

The team went on to lose the eventual state champion Maricopa in the semifinal round but the higher standard of winning had been set.

The team is 14-3 overall this year even though nine seniors have moved on from the magical year. The Nighthawks are ranked 6th in the most recent AIA/MaxPreps Division II power rankings, one day after beating Basha. The Bears were ranked No. 13 in Division I coming into the game.

Ram scored 20 points in the win and sophomore Natalie Bartle scored a game high 26. Bartle hit a 3-pointer to open up the fourth quarter to give her team a 40-33 lead but the Bears went on a 8-0 run to take a 41-40 lead with 5:38 left in the game.

Bartle came down and hit another 3 to retake a 43-41 lead but Xandra Miller scored to tie the game up 43-43 with 3:17 left. Ram scored 30 seconds later and Bartle hit a bucket and three free throws to extend the lead to 50-43 with 23.4 seconds left.

A 3-pointer from Tiyana Josey cut the lead down to 50-46 with 13.5 seconds left but a free throw from Hannah Semon put the game away.

Josey finished with 17 points and senior center Rachel Wadsworth added 13 for Basha.

With nine seniors gone perhaps the continued success of the Nighthawks has nothing to do with magic.

"I attribute it to three things," Simpson explained. "Building the chemistry of the program, commitment from parents and players in the process and consistency in our program as far as coaching."

As a standout player at Canyon del Oro herself, Simpson played for four different coaches in four years. Her current crop of seniors are the first group of girls to play for just one coach. Every other class in the 11-year history of the program has either played for two and most played for three.

Ram has benefitted from the program but she is also responsible for its success.

"I just want to win every game," Ram said. "I knew I was getting close and that made me nervous but my teammates helped me through it like they always do. We believe in ourselves and I think we know what it takes."

Perhaps it is magic after all.