No. 13 Sabino built several leads only to have No. 4 Pusch Ridge fight back every time but missed free throws put an end to one last run and the Sabercats pulled off the 49-44 upset on the road to advance to the 3A quarterfinals set for Friday.

Sabino (12-7 in ranking games) will travel to No. 5 Payson (18-3) after the Longhorns held on to beat No. 12 Holbrook 42-38 in first round action. Sabino was the only team in the 3A playoffs to pull off an upset Monday night. Pusch Ridge (14-4) beat Sabino 44-38 on Jan. 14 to win the 3A South Region.

Junior Chayil Combs finished with a game-high 23 points, fueled by five made shots from beyond the arc, including two in the early going to help pace Sabino to 10-4 lead with 3:15 left in the first quarter but Noelle Sunukjian responded with two three pointers of her own to tie the game at 12-12 with 1:11 left. Combs made a bucket with 29.2 seconds left for a 14-12 lead heading to the second.

The Sabercats built an 18-12 lead with 6:03 left in the half but another three from Sunukjian and a three from Rachel Warren tied it back up 18-18 with 4:30 left. The Sabercats went into the locker room with a 24-23 lead but Combs came out firing and she scored 13 of her 23 points in the third quarter, including three straight three pointers, to put Sabino up 41-26 with 2:56 left in the quarter.

Mikayla King and Sunukjian hit a couple of long-range shots to cut the lead down to 45-38 with 4:22 left in the game and then Nicole Njoroge scored a couple of buckets to cut the lead down to 46-42 with 1:13 left but a couple of free throws from Jayda Haley helped put the game away with Pusch Ridge going 0-7 from the free throw line down the stretch and 3-15 for the game. Likewise, the Sabercats went 7-22 from the line.

Combs had her 23 points, Haley added 11 and Melia Graham finished with seven for Sabino. Sunukjian had five three pointers to finish with 15 points and Njoroge scored 12 for Pusch Ridge.

The semifinal round of the 3A playoffs will take place at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Friday, Feb. 28 and the championship is slated for the following day at the same venue.