By Don Ketchum

Phoenix St. Mary’s girls basketball coach Curtis Ekmark was concerned how his team would respond to playing four games in one week.

So far, the Lady Knights are three-for-three with one to go. They dismantled visiting Chandler Hamilton with ease 75-44 on Thursday night (Jan. 13) and take to the road to face Phoenix Horizon on Friday night (Jan. 14).

“I’m proud of the kids for grinding it out,’’ Ekmark said. “We played pretty well against one of the best teams in the state.’’

Pretty well, indeed.

St. Mary’s (16-1) was sharp on defense from the opening tip. The Lady Knights rebounded and ran the floor, and Hamilton (13-3) seldom could keep up. St. Mary’s also had crisp passing, setting up higher-percentage shots.

“Last year, they beat us by 20 (actually 18), so to have a turnaround like this is pretty good,’’ Ekmark said.

St. Mary’s had three double-figure scorers and two other players with eight points. Junior Shilpa Tummala and freshman Courtney Ekmark led the way with 22 and 18 points, respectively. They hit nine three-pointers between them.

The Lady Knights also got 13 points from Lyndsay Leikem, one of the better efforts of the 6-foot-2 sophomore’s young career. She also was a factor with her rebounding and defense.

“The good thing about our team is that we have a lot of ways to score,’’ Ekmark said. “We look to whoever has the good matchup.

“Our team is so unselfish – we move the ball really well.’’

St. Mary’s had a nine-point lead at the end of the first quarter, and by halftime had doubled it.

Hamilton went on an 8-2 run to begin the third quarter to pull to within 42-28, but St. Mary’s regained its footing and pulled away again.

Hamilton also didn’t help itself at the free-throw line, hitting just 13 of 23. St. Mary’s wasn’t much better, hitting 8 of 17.