Underestimated and overlooked, No. 12 Maricopa overcame two huge deficits to defeat No. 5 Tucson High 52-50 in the second round of the girl's Division II state playoffs Friday night.

Junior Danae Ruiz hit on a quick 3-pointer in the opening moments to put Maricopa (27-5) up 3-0 but it looked like it was going to be the Badger's night after Tucson (25-6) went on a 29-10 run to take a 29-13 lead with 2:20 left in the second quarter.

Senior Bailey Johnson and junior Alexis Cortes scored 11 points each to lead the charge but Ruiz came alive to spark a 14-2 run to cut the lead down to 31-27 with 6:55 left in the third.

The Rams upped the pressure and took advantage of turnovers, misses and uncontested rebounds to get back in the game.

"Honestly, when we got down I treated it like any other game," explained Maricopa coach Katie Burrows. "At this point it was us against everybody and we had great leadership on the court and they never gave up."

Johnson broke 1,000 points in her high school career but the moment turned out to be bittersweet as she saw frustration take her team over.

"This has been my best year," said Johnson. "We have great chemistry and we play together. We are really close but we let this one get away. I think we were frustrated."

Still, Cortez poured in a game-high 23 points and she put the Badgers back up 45-37 with 6:10 left in the game but the Rams came roaring back on the strength of back-to-back 3-pointers from senior Tiara Edmond and Ruiz. Down 45-43, Ruiz could see the game was turning their way.

"We worked like this all year," Ruiz said. "We always come together and when people underestimate us we come out fighting and we took over."

Johnson scored again to make the game 47-43 with 3:59 left but Ruiz hit a free throw and senior Jamila Rodgers sank a 3-pointer and the comeback was complete with a 47-47 tie with 2:12 left in the game.

Edmond put Maricopa up 49-47 after another turnover with 1:59 left. Maricopa went to the line again after another miss by Tucson with 40.2 seconds left but Tucson failed to grab the rebound after the miss on the front end of a one-and-one.

The miss on the rebound turned out to be the story of the night after Maricopa missed on another free throw but Tucson failed to grab that rebound also.  Maricopa took advantage and junior Raegene Womack sank two free throws with 17.1 second left to put the Rams up 52-47.

Cortez sank a 3-pointer with 5.4 seconds left to cut the lead down to 52-50. Maricopa missed on free throws and a last-second shot attempt by Tucson came up short.

Maricopa will travel to the Gila River Arena to play No.4 Flagstaff (23-5) in the quarterfinal round next Wednesday.

Johnson was presented with the game ball after the game and was greeted with a standing ovation along with other seniors Ajonay Hodges and Alondra Leon. In a classy move, Burrows congratulated Johnson outside of her locker room after the celebration.

Besides the 23 from Cortez, Johnson scored 14 and Hodges added seven. For Maricopa, Ruiz scored 15, Womack had nine and Edmond scored eight.