Assembly MIPS Stack, keep .data - sorting

Question

Hello I'm trying to make a Quicksort, sorting algorithm using assembly (MIPS). I'm fairly new to assembly and I'm having some problems with how to use the stack in my program.
What I am trying to do is to use the stack in order to make the quicksort subroutine recursive. The problem I get when doing this is that the array that I'm trying to sort when moving the stack pointer.
Here's the code:
main:
li $s4, 0 # Min value of the range inside the array you want to sort
li $s5, 15 # Max value of the range inside the array that you want to sort
add $t6, $zero, $s4 # left-value
add $t7, $zero, $s5 # right-value
addiu $sp, $sp, -12 # We need space for the register $ra and register $a0
sw $ra, 0($sp) # A must have, if you wanna come back and avoid strange behaviour
sw $s4, 4($sp)
sw $s5, 8($sp)
jal quickSort
nop
ori $v0,$zero,10 # Prepare syscall to exit program cleanly
syscall
quickSort:
move $a0, $zero
add $a0, $zero, $t6 # Min value of the range inside the array you want to sort
move $a1, $zero
add $a1, $zero, $t7 # Max value of the range inside the array that you want to sort
li $t5, 4 # Temp to mult with
move $t3, $zero
add $t3, $a0, $a1
div $t3, $t3, 2
mult $t3, $t5
mflo $t3
lw $s0, data($t3) # Pivot = (min size + max size) / 2
mult $a1, $t5 # offset for min value
mflo $s1, # offset for array min
mult $a2, $t5 # offset for max value
mflo $s2 # offset for array max
sortLoop:
bgt $a0, $a1, endLoop # While min value is less or equal to max value
nop
leftLoop:
lw $t4, data($s1)
bge $t4, $s0, rightLoop
nop
add $s1, $s1, 4
add $a0, $a0, 1
j leftLoop
nop
rightLoop:
lw $t5, data($s2)
ble $t5, $s0, switchValue
nop
add $s2, $s2, -4
add $a1, $a1, -1
j rightLoop
nop
switchValue:
bgt $a0, $a1, repeat
nop
sw $t5, data($s1)
sw $t4, data($s2)
add $s1, $s1, 4
add $a0, $a0, 1
add $s2, $s2, -4
add $a1, $a1, -1
repeat:
j sortLoop
endLoop:
recursion:
bge $s4, $a1, recursion2
nop
addiu $sp, $sp, -12
sw $ra, 0($sp)
sw $a0, 4($sp)
sw $a1, 8($sp)
move $t6, $zero
add $t6, $t6, $s4 # left-value
move $t7, $zero
add $t7, $t7, $a1
jal quickSort
nop
recursion2:
bge $a0, $s5,endSorting
nop
addiu $sp, $sp, -12
sw $ra, 0($sp)
sw $a0, 4($sp)
sw $a1, 8($sp)
move $t6, $zero
add $t6, $zero, $a0
move $t7, $zero
add $t7, $zero, $s5
jal quickSort
nop
endSorting:
lw $ra, 0($sp)
lw $s4, 4($sp)
lw $s5, 8($sp)
addi $sp, $sp, 12
jr $ra
nop
My questions are as following:
Does the .data values also go to the stack?
Is this the proper use of the stack?
If not is there any good tutorials or something that can help me learn it better?