Girls hoops: Hamilton clamps down in 2nd half to beat Highland

January 20, 2015 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Hamilton's girls basketball team has finished the toughest stretch of its power-ranking schedule the last two weeks. It took a couple of hits along the way, but after winning Tuesday night the Lady Huskies look to be in pretty good shape.

Defense played the key role as Hamilton backhanded Highland, 51-37, in a Division I game between the No. 3 and No. 7 teams, respectively, in the power rankings at The Nest. Hamilton, which won its first 10 power-ranking games, was 1-2 in its last three. Those losses were last week to No. 1 Desert Vista and Monday to Mountain Pointe.

"It was good to see us bounce back from yesterday,"  Kain said. "Watching (Highland) we knew they shot the three and we needed to defend that. We went with a smaller lineup than we normally do. We pressured them and extended on their shooters. I thought we did a nice job."

Highland coach Miner Webster agreed.

"I give all the credit to their defense," Webster said. "Sometimes we're so soft defending in practice we get a false sense of security. We turned the ball over too much and didn't rebound the way we could or should. We were still in it (third period), but a few mistakes turned a two-point game to a 10-point game in a hurry."

Hamilton's game-turning, 8-0 run came with around five minutes left in the third period with the Lady Huskies up, 29-27. Neither team led by more than six to that point. However, a layup in the paint by post Zayn Dornstauder followed by three successive steals converted to layups improved the margin to 10. Hamilton outscored Highland 11-5 in the third period, limiting Highland to one field goal. The baskets off steals were by Maddie Fredricks, Makayla Filiere and Fredricks again. Lexy Bauman fed Fredricks on the first one. Filiere and Fredricks were alone on the thefts and buckiets for the other two.

Highland made three 3s in the first half, but none in the second half. The Lady Hawks rarely got off a three-point shot after intermission.

Hamilton (15-7 overall, 12-2 power-ranking games) has five power-ranking games left. None are against a team in the top 20 of the current power-rankings. The Lady Huskies spread their scoring around led by Filiere with 11, Fredricks and Maya Banks with nine points each and Dornstauder with eight.

Highland (12-9, 8-3 prg) has been up and down all season, but on the rise of late. It had won six in a row and nine of its last 10 prior to Tuesday. The Lady Hawks got 10 points apiece from Anna Grone and Hadley Nielson.