Durham boys, girls sweep Hamilton
Trojans win games on the road over Braves
HAMILTON CITY >> Through the first two quarters, the Durham and Hamilton High girls basketball teams were neck-and-neck.
Both scored 13 points in the first two periods to head into halftime even at 26-all.
But the third quarter proved different for the visiting Trojans as they outscored the hosts 18-5 en route to a 57-39 victory Friday night at Hamilton High.
“Well, that’s our M.O.; we like to take it slow in the first half, then typically in the second half is when we turn it on,” said first-year Durham coach Alvyna Goodwin.
Hamilton jumped out to an early 7-4 advantage when Ally Ponke grabbed a steal and turned it into a fastbreak layup. Lena Porter then drained a jumper and Ponke added a jumper under the hoop.
Berenize Trujillo-Mendoza buried a floater in the paint and Maddy Pankratz banked a 3 off the glass to yield a 13-10 lead for Hamilton. But the Trojans countered with a 3 from Karlee Porter to even the game at 13-all.
Hamilton built a lead of 21-15 thanks to a bucket from Trujillo-Mendoza that she converted off a steal paired with a Pankratz 3-ball.
In the tail end of the second quarter, Bryant’s put-back coupled with a layup from Smith, send the game into the break tied 26-26.
“We go in the locker room (at halftime), get chewed out a little bit, then flip a switch and we’re back in the game,” said Karena Bryant, who scored a game-high 18 points. “That’s how we get it done.”
In the third quarter, Bryant briefly hesitated, then fired a 3-pointer from the right elbow to cap an 11-2 run that featured triples from Delaney Neeley, Abby Thorpe and a two-point bucket from Bryant, that started the third quarter and allowed Durham to pull away 37-28.
Bryant continued to stay hot
from beyond the arc, draining a 3 from the left side. Senior Melody Elwood added two free throws, then fought hard through traffic to hit a bucket for 2 sending Durham (11-5, 3-0 MidValley League) into the final quarter with a 44-31 advantage.
The fourth quarter was much of the same. A Bryant layup, a putback from Alison Smith and a 3-ball from downtown by Neeley was the exclamation point on the Trojans’ run that yielded a 20-point cushion, 51-31.
“We are out for a league championship,” Bryant said. “We really want it, our seniors really want it.”
Trujillo-Mendoza led the Braves (11-10, 1-2 MVL) with 10 points while Ponke and Annie Belter each added nine points.
DURHAM BOYS RALLY FROM BEHIND TO BEAT BRAVES >> Despite feeling under the weather, Durham senior Braeden Southam was determined to get a win over a Mid-Valley League foe.
Southam finished with a team-high 20 points, including 10 in the third quarter, to help lead the Trojans to a 61-47 come-from-behind win over Hamilton.
“I wasn’t feeling good, but I knew I just had to do all I could do to help my teammates and myself score,” Southam said.
Hamilton (7-11, 0-3 MVL) jumped out to a 10-5 lead thanks to buckets from Saxon Farkas and a 3 from the corner by Jared Strong.
The Braves’ lead grew to 17-9 thanks to a Manny Rios put-back and Mario Valazquez’s 3-point play.
But Durham (10-9, 2-1 MVL) continued to whittle down the lead by trailing just 29-26 at halftime.
Southam’s triple with 6:30 left in the third quarter gave Durham the lead 32-31.
Mason Addision buried a jumper, Southam found a lane in the paint for a layup and Trevor Slightom completed a 3-point play to push the Trojans to a 42-37 advantage.
Then Southam drilled a 3-ball from downtown and drew a foul for a 46-37 lead at the end of the third yielding an uproarious cheer from the Durham fans.
“We’re struggling with the third quarter. Momentum is a dangerous thing. In our gym, we’re getting beat with momentum,” said Hamilton coach Kevin Wilkerson. “We just made a couple of mistakes. We had a three-point lead at halftime and we couldn’t pull it out.”