Dobson girls send Pinnacle packing with 2nd-half onslaught

February 17, 2012 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Dobson's girls basketball team was a little lax the final two minutes of the first half Friday night and the possibility of a double-digit lead melted to a four-point advantage over Pinnacle at intermission instead.

Seventh-seeded Dobson solved that lack of concentration immediately in the second half and went on to destroy No. 10 Pinnacle, 62-35, in a Division I second-round game at Dobson High.

Dobson (23-8) advances to Monday's D-I quarterfinals at ASU's Wells Fargo Arena. Dobson faces Highland, a 67-29 winner over  Buena, for the fifth time this season. Game time is 6 p.m. Pinnacle, which advanced to either the 4A-I or 5A-II championship games the last five seasons finishing runner-up each time, had its season end with a mark of 23-7.

The leader for Dobson,cat-quick  junior Katherine Hamilton, sat the last  few minutes of the second period after picking up her second foul. With a nine-point lead at the time coach Tyler Dumas was cautious not to have her notch a third foul before the break.

With Hamilton returning to the lineup to begin the third, all was well again for the Lady Mustatngs.

"Getting Katherine back in made a big difference," Dumas said. "She was ready for this one. She came out early to shoot, and you could just tell she was prepared."

Hamilton scored a team-high 17 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for her two top stat totals of the night. Dobson, which never trailed, also benefitted from 24 Pinnacle turnovers in the first three periods. Some of those miscues led to transition baskets that Dobson thrives on to be at its best.

With just a 23-19 lead at halftime, Dobson used a 16-6 advantage in the third period to bust the game open and didn't let up in the fourth by outscoring Pinnacle 23-10.

Pinnacle's standout junior guard Sydney Wiese paced her team and led all scorers with 21. She made 7-of-18 shots and was the only consistent threat Dobson had to contend with. Wiese made four 3s, but the Lady Mustangs did a good job shadowing her around the court with the exception of the final two minutes of the first half.

"Sydney is too great a player to forget about, even for a little bit," Dumas said. "She got them right back in it before the half."

Dumas played 10 players appreciable minutes and eight scored. Freshman Dyesha Stahley had 10 points, Stahley was the beneficiary of transition points in her total. Sophomores Miyah Leith and Tori Lloyd, added 9 and 8, respectively. Jenna Malaki and Aleisha VanBallegooie chipped in six points each.