It's playoff time, and Payson had no trouble coming through when it counted. They took down the Sabino Sabercats 60-44 on Friday. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Longhorns.
Payson's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Clara Whaley, who almost dropped a double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds. The dominant performance gave Whaley a new career-high in boards. Hannah Sarnowski was another key player, dropping a double-double with 11 points and ten assists.
Payson was working as a unit and finished the game with 18 assists. They racked up seven more assists than Sabino's also-impressive total of 11.
Sabino lost despite a true team effort on offense. The best among them was Jayda Haley, who almost dropped a double-double with 17 points and nine rebounds. She is on a roll when it comes to boards, as she's now pulled down nine or more in each of the last three games she's played. Another player making a difference was Chayil Combs, who posted 14 points.
Longhorns
| 02/21/25 vs Sabino | 60-44 |
| 02/17/25 vs Holbrook | 42-38 |
| 02/04/25 vs Gilbert Christian | 54-12 |
| 01/29/25 vs Bourgade Catholic | 63-15 |
| 01/21/25 vs San Tan Foothills | 56-16 |
| + 3 more games |
Payson's win was their eighth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 26-6. Those victories came thanks in part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 25.3 points over those games. As for Sabino, their defeat dropped their record down to 18-11.
Coming up, Payson will challenge Chinle at 8:00 p.m. on February 28th. Payson is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 54 points per game this season. Sabino does not have any more games scheduled as of now.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
