All it took was a fingertip.

With 18 seconds remaining and No. 3 Chandler Seton Catholic carrying a three-point lead, No. 6 Tucson Flowing Wells had possession and the opportunity to preserve its season.

But Lyndsay Leikem’s inbound pass was tipped by Seton’s Jessica Bailey, enabling Seton to go to the free-throw line and secure a 57-52 victory during the Division II quarterfinals Tuesday at Grand Canyon University Arena.

“It didn’t take more than that, just a fingertip on the ball,” Seton coach Karen Self said. ” … I was so proud of her because we work on that really hard.”

The win capped a steady rally by Seton (24-8) set in motion by a 3-pointer from sophomore post Julia Barcello.

Flowing Wells, particularly Leikem, dominated the floor in the first half. Her nine first-quarter points helped Flowing Wells (27-4) to an 18-11 advantage after one. She finished with 21.

“We definitely felt like we weren’t playing our tempo,” Seton junior guard Anne Marie Holter said.

But with two minutes remaining in the half, Barcello sunk a wide-open 3 and Seton trailed by only one at intermission.

“It was one of those game-changing moments,” Self said. “She just knocked it down. It gave us some belief, some momentum.”

But that wouldn’t be the last crucial shot from Barcello. Her jumper with 2:58 left gave Seton a 51-50 lead.

A pair of free throws by Holter upped the cushion to three, and Holter solidified the victory with two more when Seton earned possession after Flowing Wells’ miscue on the inbound.

“Being able to close out a game like that, I’m just so proud of the girls,” Self said.

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Go to highschools.azcentral.com for coverage of the Division III girls basketball tournament quarterfinals.

Danny Powell has few equals on the basketball court in Arizona.

But it has been the way Powell has allowed teammates around him to blossom in recent weeks that has Phoenix Desert Vista back to the boys basketball semifinals for the first time since 2008, when the school captured the state championship.

Powell, a 6-foot-6 senior swingman who has signed with Eastern Washington, had 24 points in Desert Vista’s 53-50 Division I quarterfinal victory over Gilbert on Tuesday at Arizona State’s Wells Fargo Arena.

Afterward, Desert Vista coach Dave Williams fought back tears, saying he wished his ailing father could have been in attendance.

His father’s health recently, he said, has taken a turn for the worse.

Desert Vista (22-8) continued to play with the cohesion and confidence it showed in Saturday’s 32-point playoff rout of Mesa Mountain View.

The key has been Powell’s unselfishness, Williams said.

“Danny Powell is playing basketball like we asked him to do the whole year,” Williams said. “He finally stopped trying to be the whole show. We knew he’s the best player in the state. But you have to learn how to play together.”

Powell didn’t take one bad shot Tuesday. He got help from senior guard Jeff Lowery, who had 13 points.

John Marshall, Powell, Kyle Pitman and Lowery combined to sink 9 of 10 foul shots in the final minute to ward off a Gilbert comeback.

Gilbert (21-7), which had won 12 of 14 games entering the game, led 39-37 on forward Erik Crawford’s follow shot with 3:46 left.

Powell converted a 3-point play, and Marshall scored on a layup to give Desert Vista a 44-41 lead with 2:55 to play.

Crawford’s two free throws at 1:43 gave Gilbert a one-point lead before Marshall’s jumper with 1:06 left gave Desert Vista a lead it would never lose again.

Gilbert was forced to foul after Crawford’s 3-point try missed.

“I think the key has been all of our role players stepped it up and hit big shots,” Powell said. “Kyle Pitman came along the last part of the season.

“We’re really proud of how everybody hast stepped up.”

Gilbert was led by Crawford’s 21 points.

Guard Freddie Lash, who has been the key to Gilbert’s push late in the season, was held to five points.

After sitting in on the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s executive board meeting Tuesday, I’m absolutely convinced the AIA will correct its power-points formula in time for the spring state tournaments.

At least, I’m pretty sure.

Sort of.

I do know this: The AIA isn’t burying its head in the sand and ignoring what appears to be a flaw in the methodology. (Essentially, teams that play extra games receive an unfair boost in power points, thus skewing the ratings.)

The AIA is fast-tracking a new Power Rankings Committee that will include a representative from each of the five divisions. In addition, it will meet Thursday with an expert in algorithms from MaxPreps, a high school sports site that recently signed a partnership agreement with the AIA.

The goal, Associate Executive Director Chuck Schmidt said, is to have a proposal brought to the executive board vote during its March 19 meeting. The spring playoff season begins in mid- to late April.

“I wouldn’t say there’s a problem with what we’re doing, but if we can make it better, that will be a great thing,” board President Derek Fahleson, the athletic director at Goodyear Estrella Foothills, said.

Yes, it would.

So why am I not completely sold the AIA will recognize the flaw and change the system? Simple: I’ve yet to hear anyone from the AIA admit there is a flaw.

They continually defend the process that created the formula rather than acknowledge an honest mistake might have been made by the original Power Rankings Committee two years ago.

“There was no failure to recognize, because we didn’t know what the outcome would be,” Schmidt said.

“I think ultimately what we have to look at is this: Is the process working? My answer is absolutely and unequivocally yes.”

Really? I’d argue the process isn’t nearly as important as the result. If there’s an error in the formula, there’s an error in the formula, no matter how well-intentioned the committee was.

Schmidt went on to criticize the way the flaw was revealed, with a Gilbert engineer going to the media because he didn’t believe he was getting a rapid enough response from the AIA.

“I’m going to tell you right now, if the outside public is going to use the press as a stick to engage the AIA staff, that doesn’t happen,” Schmidt said.

Sorry, but it shouldn’t matter how the alleged flaw was brought to the AIA’s attention, even if the engineer in question was overzealous and used profane language in his e-mails.

All that matters is getting the formula right.

Fortunately, it appears as if the AIA’s attitude won’t filter into the upcoming discussions. Brian Bolitho, the AIA’s director of business media and resident power-points expert, was at least open to acknowledging the formula might need tweaking. In his presentation to the executive board, he calmly pointed out the mathematical differences in the current formula and the fix proposed by the Gilbert engineer and seconded by an Arizona State University math professor.

He also highlighted why this is important: 17 teams in soccer, basketball and girls volleyball failed to make the state tournaments.

Under the alternate formula, they would have been in.

(The current formula particularly affects rural schools, which sometimes play fewer games in order to cut travel costs.)

“If the question is whether it’s hurting teams when they can’t play (as many games), and the obvious answer is yes, then something should be done about it,” Bolitho said.

That’s all we wanted to hear.

My guess is that ultimately the AIA will fix the formula so every team is judged by its results and strength of schedule, not the number of games it has played.

And in the end, it won’t matter who takes credit or blame. The formula will be accurate and fair.

That’s all that will matter.

Reach Bordow at scott.bordow@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-7996. Follow him on Twitter at Twitter.com/sBordow.