Red Mountain handed Mountain View its first region loss Thursday night in a 55-51 home victory that went wire to wire.

Forward Payton Westra led the Mountain Lions with 15 points and 14 rebounds, while Brooklyn Hendersen (12 points) and Macy Johnson (11) each hit two big 3-pointers for Red Mountain (14-5, 4-0). The win sets up a Tuesday showdown with Mesa High, also unbeaten in East Valley Region play.

"This was a big game and Mountain View is a great team," Red Mountain coach Anthony Jackson said. "We had to put a defensive system in to try and stop some of their better players, especially their three point shooters."

The strategy worked in the first half, as the Toros went 1 for 6 from 3-point range. Emma Fischbeck hit the lone 3-pointer in the first half, but heated up in the second half with three more 3-point field goals, and led all scoreres with 17 points. 
 

But the game remained tight throughout. Mountain View (12-7, 3-1) led by one after the first quarter and Red Mountain took a 28-27 lead into halftime, as Westra was held to four points while the Toros forced six turnovers. 
 

The Mountain Lions built their lead to seven points twice in the third quarter, but the Toros answered each time. After a Hendersen 3-pointer gave Red Mountain a 41-34 lead, Fischbeck led Mountain View on a 10-0 run to end the third quarter.

Fischbeck continued with the hot hand in the fourth quarter, and her third 3- pointer of the game gave the Toros a 49-47 lead with just over four minutes left in the game.

But Red Mountain got key buckets down the final stretch to lock up the win. Sierra Mellish scored four of her eight points in the game's final two minutes, as she got open near the basket for two easy shots, the second of which game Red Mountain a 54-51 lead with 34 seconds left.

Mountain View was unable to connect on a pair of 3-point attempts, and a Westra free throw with five seconds left sealed the victory.

"Sierra is so good at slashing to the basket and disrupting things," Westra said after the game. "It took the whole team tonight. Mountain View is great...I think we just executed on the court and that really helped us. It was just fun on the court, when we make a game plan and stick to it and go all out, good things happen."

Kaity Christensen added 10 points for the Toros, who will next play at Dobson Tuesday night.