VarsityXtra

I just got done watching Gilbert Highland squeak past Gilbert, 41-40, in the 5A-I girls basketball semifinals at Jobing.com Arena. The Tigers had three attempts to win the game in the last 10 seconds, but I have to wonder if it even would have come to that if Whitney Southerland had been 100 percent.

In the limited minutes she was on the floor, Gilbert’s Southerland was the best player. She ended up scoring a game-high 12 points, but sickness limited her playing time. It was so bad at one point that Gilbert was called for a delay of game because she accidentally vomited on the court.

But Southerland will have many more chances to prove her worth on the court. She is only a sophomore.

The 2008 high school football recruiting process culminated a couple weeks ago with signing day, finally letting college football coaches rest for, oh, about a day or two.

Already, the spotlight has been thrust to this year’s juniors. One player who has benefitted from the attention is Scottsdale Chaparral’s Craig Roh. The defensive lineman recently was offered a scholarship by Oklahoma, which is sure to pique the interest of other top schools. Many times in recruiting, once a major college offers an athlete, others are quick to jump on board.

It’s cracking up to be a good year for defensive linemen in the East Valley with college aspirations. In addition to Roh, Phoenix Desert Vista’s Devon Kennard and Scottsdale Saguaro’s Corey Adams are getting looks from college football powerhouses. Kennard is the ninth highest-rated overall prospect in the 2009 class, according to Rivals.com, and Adams is top-50.

The first round of the 4A-I boys basketball tournament came and went Tuesday night and, not surprisingly, upsets shook up the bracket.

Four of the eight underdogs prevailed, including 15th-seeded Glendale over No. 2 Sandra Day O’Connor. It has been like this all season, teams taking turns beating each other. The second, fifth, seventh and eighth seeds are gone.

As the bracket continues to play out, I’d expect to see a Millennium-Saguaro semifinal in the top half of the bracket, and Paradise Valley-Agua Fria in the bottom half. The only problem is, all four of those seeds are ranked higher than their opponent, which means it’s almost assured not to happen.

While in 4A-II it’s almost certain Tucson Santa Rita or Goodyer Desert Edge takes the title, expect 4A-I to be a crapshoot until the very end.