TEMPE - Coach Rachel Matakas and her Valley Vista girls basketball powerhouse do not care how the 6A final looked.

Because that third gold ball in four seasons looks beautiful.

Top seed Valley Vista (28-3) did not make a single three-point shot Tuesday night at ASU’s Desert Financial Arena. But it did out-rebound #3 Chandler Hamilton 43-25 and kept drawing fouls and getting to the line, getting 22 points on free throws compared to the Huskies’ 4.

That added up to a 42-38 Valley Vista victory, as the Monsoon closed the night with a 6-0 run in the final 53 seconds.

“It doesn’t matter as long as you win by one. No one is going to remember that (two-point) first quarter. They’re going to remember who won it,” Matakas said. “We don’t stop, and if you never stop, you give yourself a chance.”

Both teams crawled through an often-painful first half. Hamilton led 10-2 after one.

Sophomore guard Jennah Isai made Valley Vista’s first field goal with under six minutes left in the half and it was 15-5.

“We changed nothing. We’re just fighters. We’re on the Westside. We work hard. Nothing is given. Everything is earned,” Matakas said. “What we were going to do is pound and get more of an inside game. We started to push the ball in transition to try to get mismatches earlier. They ran a ‘junk’ defense - a 2-3 matchup zone. So what we did is switch the offense a little bit to pick it apart and make them go back to man.”

Gradually, the top seed erased a 12-point second quarter deficit. The key was holding Hamilton scoreless for four minutes.

The Monsoon drew within two at 17-15, before junior guard Amyah Reaves converted a layup with two seconds left for a 19-15 Hamilton (23-7) lead at the break. Reaves led all scorers with 10 in the half.

“I told them you guys are a hell of a basketball team to be down only four after that first half,” Matakas said. “I said, ‘You guys got it. You’re fine. Relax.’ Once we got the lead we never let it go.”

Isai sat the opening two minutes then played the final 30.

She never got going from the field but racked up trips to the foul line, sinking five of six in the first half and 14-18 overall.

“It felt amazing to make those free throws. We have a very strong determination and we wanted this badly. Even though we struggled sometimes, we realized there was a bigger picture,” Isai said.

Valley Vista kept inching back and tied the game with 1:47 left in the third quarter. Sophomore guard Mikela Cooper drove across the lane and scored.

Then junior center Madison Magee blocked a Husky shot and Isai hit two foul shots for the tie.

“We started to play harder defense and began to stop their shooters (Reaves) and (Graciela Roybal). Then we were getting our rebounds and making smart passes,” Cooper said.

Junior forward Marisa Davis rebounded Isai’s miss and followed for a 28-26 lead. And against a scrambling Hamilton defense, Cooper got a rare open look and buried a baseline jumper for a 30-26 lead after three.

“It was good. I’ve really been working on my jump shot so I was glad I had the rhythm,” Cooper said.

Davis grabbed a loose ball in the paint and layed it in for a 32-28 lead. She became the focal point of the attack late, thanks in part to her five offensive rebounds in the second half.

Davis finished the night tied with Isai at 18 points. The 6-1 junior earned player of the game accolades, though, by grabbing 14 rebounds - more than double the total of any other player.

“Marisa got after it and we talked about that. The rebounding advantage was 23-10 at half. I said, ‘Hey, they’re going to really try to box us out. Go after the boards even harder.’ Marissa was breaking through because they were trying to box and she would sideswipe them and grab the boards,” Matakas said.

Hamilton senior forward Zakiirah King scored to tie it at 32 near the three-minute mark. Davis went 1-4 on free throws for a one-point lead.

Sophomore forward Saniyah Neverson missed two for Valley Vista, which went 22-37 on free throws overall. Junior guard Alanis Delgado picked off a pass and fed Davis, who missed but rebounded and followed.

She was fouled, and this time she converted an and-one.

“The fact that we lived in that moment and not in the past ... we weren’t worried about, oh we missed this two seconds ago. We just went back and got the next rebound or defensive stop. Whatever it takes,” Davis said.

The four-point lead was short lived as junior forward Amari Burnette sank the Huskies’ fourth and final trey of the night to make it 36-35. Junior Samara Curry sank one of two to tie it at 36.

Senior guard Victoria Davis - Hamilton’s second-leading scorer this season - made her only basket of the night for a 38-36 Hamilton lead at the 53-second mark.

Valley Vista’s much bigger Davis otherwise shut down the 5-4 speedster, as she shot 1-6.

“We knew if we could stop (Reaves) (Davis) and (Roybal), that’s pretty much their offense. We definitely did that in the second half,” Davis said.

The Monsoon made the most pressure-filled free throws in the final minute. Isai made two to tie at 38.

A Hamilton player came across the boundary, wiping out a steal on an inbounds pass. Isai drove into a swarm of Huskies and loss the ball - but right to Davis, who was fouled and made both.

Reaves, Hamilton’s leading scorer with 12, drove to attempt the final layup but missed and no foul was called. Isai rebounded, was fouled and sank both free throws with 2.8 seconds left to ice it.

“Throughout the game, we stayed positive and trusted each other. It came down to how we worked together,” Isai said.

This group, with Davis, Delgado and senior guard Sophie Martinez the only holdovers from the 2018 champions, managed to win another title without playing its best in the playoffs.

Even Matakas admitted some good fortune in escaping a semifinal with Gilbert Perry 48-47 by scoring on Davis layup with two seconds left. Add the Hamilton win to the list of near miracles.

“Honestly I was like, ‘Did we just do what I think we did.’ When we won against Perry I was like, ‘Did we just win this game?’” Matakas said. “God’s always had my back and in the end I trust Him.”