Mountain Pointe's girls celebrate their come-from-behind win over Highland. (AzPreps365 photo

Highland basketball coach Miner Webster had a good feeling with about a minute left in the first half of the Lady Hawks playoff game with Mountain Pointe. An 18-point lead offers a warm-fuzzy sensation.

But with 0.3 seconds left in the half, a Highland foul on a desperation three-point field goal by Mountain Pointe's Keeli Kaye rankled Webster.

For good reason. All three free throws were made by Kaye to bring  momentumf to Mountain Pointe heading to intermission. It didn't wane.

#13 Mountain Pointe finally caught up mid-fourth quarter and was the better team than Highland in the second half in pulling out a 49-45 victory in a 6A first-round contest at Highland High. The teams -- both from the 6A Central -- met twice during the season. #4 Highland won both games by three points and all three games were finals in the 40s.

"Everything changed with that," Webster said. "That's the second time this year we've tried to block a 3-poiint shot like that late. The first time it cost us a game. That one changed the momentum."

Mountain Pointe (21-9), wihch pulled off a quarterfinal upset last year, advances to the quarterfinals Saturday to face #4 Xavier Prep at 6:30 at Xavier. Xavier Prep eliminated #13 Horizon on Wednesday, 52-23. HIghland (20-8)  had to pack it in for the year disappointed.

Mountain Pointe was paced by senior guard Izzy Enriquez with 16 points. Enriquez scored a team-high 16 points and nine of the team's first 12. She picked up her third foul with 5 1/2 minutes left in the half and that's when Highland went to town. Highland led 17-12 when Enriquez went to the bench and the margin was 30-12 in the final minute of the half.

In addition Mountain Pointe's top scorer -- Eve Kulovitz -- was bottled up the first half with just two points. Kulovitz stepped up in the fourth quarter scoring seven of her nine points and canning her only three that put the Pride up two briefly. Kaye complemented Enriquez with 13 points, nine in the second half and those huge free throws as the first half closed.

"At halftime we talked about trying to get it under single digits and get some stops," Mountain Pointe coach Justin Hager said. "It was either get blown out or go out and win the game. We picked up the intensity in the third quarter, played better post defense and took care of the ball. We had 15 turnovers in the first half and five in the second."

The game was tied one final time at 40 after Highland post Kamryn Brown (game-high 20 points) sank two free throws with 3:12 left. Kaye gave Mountain Pointe the lead for good 30 seconds later with a steal and layup. Kulovitz, Enriquez and Kaye collectively connected on seven free throws in the final 2:22.

"Mountain Pointe's a good team," Webster said. "They are scrappy and physical. It's too bad we let it get away."

Hager, in his third year coaching Mountain Pointe after a long stint at Cibola, said the win was right up there and may have been better than the upending of Hamilton last year.

"We were up at halftime in that game, and down 15 at half in this one," Hager said. "This was a big one. I have so much respect for Miner and his program having gone against him for years."