Lady Braves back to title contest

The Hamilton girls basketball team restricted Biggs to single-digit scoring in three of four quarters Tuesday night to prevail, 48-35, in the NSCIF Division V semifinal round.

The top-seeded Lady Braves struggled to find a rhythm early in the game, and Biggs was within a single bucket of knotting the score early in the third quarter.

"Finally we said, we're done with this," Hamilton coach Mark Priano said. "We clamped down on defense, blocked out and got rebounds. We finally started to push the ball up the floor and make passes to the open man."

The surprising No. 13 seeds had Hamilton frustrated, pouring on 17 points in the second quarter, but the Lady Wolverines only managed 12 more after the break.

"I'm very pleased with our effort," Priano said. "We sucked it up in the second half and took it to business."

Aubrey Bekendam turned in a monster double-double with game highs of 21 points and 17 rebounds, leading Hamilton to its 25th consecutive victory.

Devoney Platt also had a double-double, scoring 12 points with 10 boards and three steals. Jenna Price battled for 10 boards and added seven points.

The teams shot equally meager from the field; the difference in the game was free throws.

Hamilton connected on 11-of-16 from the line, while Biggs only had five attempts.

From the field, Hamilton's shooting was 18-of-69 (26 percent) while Biggs was 17-for-65 (26 percent).

Katie Gordon drilled a momentum-shifting 3-pointer for Hamilton late in the second quarter, finishing with eight points, and Bekendam blocked three shots on defense.

Jessekah McCorkle also grabbed seven rebounds.

Maribel Garcia led the Biggs offense with 13 points and teammate Iliana Arellano scored eight.

The much-improved Lady Wolverines lost to Hamilton twice in Mid-Valley League action, but opened the playoffs with road upsets of No. 4 seed University Prep and No. 5 Fall River to advance to the semifinal round.

Hamilton's last defeat came Dec. 5 to Division II school Shasta. The Lady Braves (10-0 MVL, 27-2) will play Durham for the Division V championship on Saturday, 2:30 p.m. at California State University, Chico, in a rematch of last year's finale.

Contact Paul Gadbois at 824-1036.

Hamilton 48, Biggs 35

Biggs 6 17 8 4 -35

Hamilton 13 15 10 10 -48

Biggs (35): Garcia, 13; Arellano, 8; Chandler, 4; Castillo, 4; Duran, 4; McCartin, 2

Hamilton (48): Bekendam, 21; Platt, 12; Gordon, 8; Price, 7

Game at a glance

Hamilton has been the Div. V runner-up three years in a row, and four times in NSCIF history, but the Lady Braves have never been crowned Div. V champions. Durham won last year's finale, 56-44. The two teams did not meet in the regular season.

Durham features a pair of players averaging in double figures in scoring - Ellen Carstensen (13.5 ppg) and Nikki Pyle (10.3). The 5-foot, 10-inch Pyle is also their leading rebounder at 9.7 rpg.