Seton's Sarah Barcello watches her fast-break layup fall in their win over Thunderbird. (AzPreps365 photo)

It didn't take long for No. 2 Seton Catholic's girls to put host and No. 4 Thunderbird on the defensive Friday night. The Lady Sentinels were ahead 16-3 with three minutes gone. Up 27-7 after a quarter. That's how the two-time defending champs roll this year and seemingly every year.

Sara Pfeiffer poured in 18 points in the first quarter and Seton's defense hounded Thunderbird from the get-go in a routine 68-32 victory.

Seton raised its record to 21-3 overall and 14-0 in power-ranking games -- all against 4A opponents. The Sentinels also have victories over 6A Valley Vista, 5A Chaparral and a narrow loss to defending 5A champ Mesquite. Thunderbird fell to 16-5 overall and 12-4 in power ranking games. The Chiefs are a game back of St. Mary's and Shadow Mountain in the Skyline Region chase. Thunderbird has now faced two of the top 3 teams (Flagstaff the other) in the 4A rankings and lost to both handily. Destiny Turrieta led Thunderbird with 10 points.

In beating Thunderbird, Seton knocked off the fifth top-15 4A opponent it's faced this season. The others were Shadow Mountain, St. Mary's, Cactus Shadows and Buckeye. Seton still has a couple more to play from the top-15 -- Bradshaw Mountain and Cactus before the regular season ends. Every conquest of 4A foes has been a rout. The closest outcome of those has been 25 points. Seton hasn't faced No. 1 Pueblo or No. 3 Flagstaff. One or both of them may be opponents come late February.

"The kids were ready for this," Seton coach Karen Self said. "This was a big matchup for us. We wanted to put on a lot of pressure and create and up-tempo pace that's to our liking."

Seton did that. Pfeiffer, who has made an impact in Seton's lineup after transferring in this year from New York, made 7 of 8 shots in the opening quarter. That included 4 of 5 3s in totaling 18 points. She finished with a game-high 22 points. Seton also forced nie turnovers in the first quarter and 18 in the opening half. Many of those led to layups.

Reigning Desert Sky Region player of the year Sarah Barcello, picked up for Pfeiffer after her sizzling first quarter. Sarah Barcello scored 19 points - 17 over the final three quarters.The other starter returning from last year along with Sarah Barcello, senior Kendall Krick, scored seven points (five in the first quarter) and was active on defense. Sarah Barcello and Krick are headed for college careers at Marist next fall.

Seton has an edge over most of its opponents in ball-handling with the likes of Krick, Pfeiffer, Sarah Barcello and Amanda Barcello. Amanda Barcello, a freshman, more often than not, runs the offense for the Lady Sentinels. Pfeiffer, Sarah Barcello and Krick do most of the scoring with Pfeiffer averaging around 19 per game, Sarah Barcello 14 pg and Krick 11 pg.

"It's nice to have multiple kids who can handle the ball," Self said. "Amanda is lengthy and explosive and we can go with Kendall and others if we need to."