Lady Braves bedeviled in state hoops tourney

The Devils made them do it.

The Hamilton High girls basketball team had a lot of things working in its favor Tuesday in its opening-round game of the California Interscholastic Federation championships. The Lady Braves came in 27-3 on the year and undefeated on their home floor, while visiting University High from San Francisco was 19-12.

But the Red Devils from University proved to be just that, erasing a 32-21 halftime deficit and forcing Hamilton in a hellacious second half before banishing them from the playoff picture, 50-47.

Hamilton came out on fire, getting treys from Katie Gordon and Jessekah McCorkle, and six points from Jenna Price in a 15-9 first quarter.

The Lady Braves crashed the boards well, and the defense frustrated the University offense, as the Red Devils were unable to establish any offensive consistency. A 3-pointer by University's Cameron Ruby from near halfcourt at the horn is the only thing that prevented University from going into the locker room down by 12.

Rather than summoning dark help from the underworld in the second half, the Red Devils instead sent minions in the form of their guards repeatedly to the basket, and their offense heated up while Hamilton's began to smolder.

The Braves were held to eight points in the third quarter, with seven coming thankfully from Price, as University put up 15 to shave the lead down to 40-36.

Hamilton continued sputtering in the fourth quarter, managing just four points off free throws until a Ruby three put the Red Devils on top 45-43 with 2:53 to go. University guard Justine Li, the Red Devils' shortest player at 5-feet, 3-inches, then drove into the land of the giants and scooped an underhand shot off the glass for two, and a four-point lead.

After missing a pair of free throws with 25 seconds remaining, Hamilton pulled to within two on a pair from the line by Aubrey Bekendam with 10.3 left, but University added a free throw and forced Hamilton into needing a 3-pointer to send the game into overtime. The extra period never came as Price's desperation shot attempt fell short.

"We just lost the edge and started missing close up shots," said Hamilton coach about the second-half drought. "That spells disaster."

The coach added, "Our defense on the guards let up. We had them; you can't let a team up like that. It was a great season, but an unfortunate end."

Price's 13 points led the Hamilton offense, with Bekendam chipping in 12 and Audra Jones adding 10, to go along with her team-leading 11 rebounds for a double-double.

Hamilton shot just 32-percent from the floor, on 16-of-50, while going 11-of-21 from the stripe.

Ruby paced University's offense with 14.

Craig Purcell is sports editor for Tri-County Newspapers. Contact him at 824-1036 or sports@tcnpress.com.

University 50, Hamilton 47

University 9 12 14 14 -50

Hamilton 15 17 8 7 -47

University (50): Ruby, 14; Lee, 10; Gonzales, 8; King, 8; Leon, 7; Li, 3

Hamilton (47): Price, 13; Bekendam, 12; Jones, 10; Gordon, 4; Platt, 3; Je. McCorkle, 3