Thursday's state 2A semifinal recaps from Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Clinching its sixth state title appearance in the past eight years isn’t what the Rancho Solano Prep Mustangs are just after.

What coach Aaron Trigg and his boys really likely want is a gold ball. In three of the past four years, including last year, Rancho Solano Prep saw the gold ball leave with someone else. 

The only team in its way this time is region mate Fountain Hills. On Thursday night, the Mustangs made some key plays down the stretch against Phoenix Country Day to advance to Saturday’s 2A final with a 47-45 semifinal victory.

Lefty Luke Larrabee swished back-to-back threes in the fourth quarter and Wyatt Fulton took a late charge to help seal the victory for the Mustangs. That charge gave Phoenix Country Day’s JD Jones (game-high 26 points) his fifth foul with 39.2 left.

Rancho Solano Prep’s Ethan Stokes scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half to also help set up Saturday’s 2A championship showdown with Fountain Hills.

Fountain Hills holds off Arizona Lutheran

As soon as the game was over, the Fountain Hills Falcons went to celebrate with their fans in the stands at VMC.

Arizona Lutheran missed its final shot, sending the Falcons to the 2A title game with a 47-46 win. A close game was expected since both programs split their regular season matchups.

The biggest lead in the game was seven points, which Fountain Hills held late in the game. Post player Ahren Lloyd went 5-7 from the field and scored 14 points to lead Fountain Hills.

Owen Beilke tallied 16 for Arizona Lutheran.

Miami girls holds off furious rally from St. Johns

St. Johns made it a game at the end, but Miami ultimately punched its ticket to Saturday’s 2A final.

Miami, which was up 51-26 in the fourth quarter, saw its lead dwindle to eight in the waning minutes as St. Johns’ pace picked up and its shots started falling.

Tamia Pietila, Aeriana Brown, Demetria Dosela and Lauren Stevens each scored in double figures for Miami. Evalyn Andrus had a game-high 21 points and 13 rebounds for St. Johns.

Miami (29-2) lost last year’s 2A title game. On Saturday at VMC, it’ll attempt again to win its first championship since 1987.

AZ Lutheran snaps state title appearance drought

With .8 left, Lauren Riesop was fouled after attempting a three.

Then the emotions took over, overshadowing a great back-and-forth battle between Pima and Arizona Lutheran. Riesop’s Arizona Lutheran team trailed 55-54 when she was fouled.

Pima’s bench disagreed with the call, leading to a technical. Then another tech was given.

After all the free throws were made, Arizona Lutheran left VMC with a 60-55 2A state semifinal win, clinching its first state title appearance since 1991. Arizona Lutheran trailed by nine in the third quarter but settled down after a slow second half start.

The teams were tied eight times, and the lead exchanged hands 13 times. Riesop (39 points) was outstanding.

For Pima, Sadie Richardson scored 20 and Macy Alred (14 points) went 9-15, including 4-6 from beyond the arc.

Adysen Hoopes had 14 boards for Pima.

Arizona Lutheran