Houston girls push pace, race past Cordova

HOUSTON — It was nearly five minutes into the second quarter before Dajonee Hale missed her first shot. By that point in the game, the score was Houston 24, Cordova 13 — and Hale had 17 of her game-high 33 points.

Hale led the Houston girls to a 65-39 win over Cordova Thursday night at Houston High School.

To start the game, Hale got the ball, dribbled past the Wolverine defense into the post and hit a left-handed bank shot. From that point on, the teams made the basketball game more of a track meet. That favors the Hawks, said head coach Pat Egelus.

“We’re definitely a transition team this year. We have no height so we’re going to use that to our advantage and just run the ball as much as we can,” Egelus said.

Hale and Savannah Wells led the way on the defensive side of the ball for the Hawks as well, stealing Cordova passes and quickly throwing outlet passes up the floor to push the pace. After Hale hit a pair of three-pointers, Cordova guard Ranalyn Adajar answered with a trey of her own. At the end of the first quarter, the Hawks led 21-12.

Tough defense and foul shooting kept Cordova in the game in the second quarter. The Hawks got into foul trouble early, which slowed down the pace and let Cordova stay even with the Hawks through the first six minutes of the quarter. For the game, the Wolverines scored 11 of their 39 points off free throws.

After a timeout at 2:37 left in the first half, the Hawks offense got back on track. Hale grabbed a rebound, pushed an outlet pass up the court to Wells, who was fouled while shooting. She completed the three-point play and finished with 12 points.

Houston’s fast-paced offense starts with tenacious ball defense. During the second quarter, Houston switched to a zone defense to try and deny the ball in the post. Once Houston players secure the ball, they find Hale, who will either run the floor with the ball or throw an outlet pass to her teammates streaking toward the basket. When left alone with the ball, Hale used fancy dribbling and lightning-quick agility to burst past defenders and create her own shot. Many of her points came from driving to the basket and jumping near the free throw line, shooting a running jump shot over defenders.

Houston’s fast offense led to a lot of open looks under the basket. Quick cross-court passing and an intense charge for the basket drove Houston’s transition offense.

“We got more offensive rebounds, we’re getting better as a team. I was very proud of our team,” Hale said.

To start the second half, Cordova forward Anna Maxwell hit two free throws and a jumper to cut the Houston lead to 10. But that was as close as the Wolverines would get. The fresh legs of the Houston bench came in and extended their lead.

“I was really happy with how our bench played today. They surprised the coaches and did their part,” Egelus said.

Houston got 16 points off the bench.

Mallory Merritt finished with eight points for the Wolverines, while Sara Hamberger scored 10 and pulled down eight rebounds. Linday Phillips tallied seven rebounds.

Tim Rockey is a Palmer High School graduate and a contributor to the Frontiersman sports pages.

Correction

This story originally identified the Houston High School girls basketball coach as Sean Seamands. The Hawks girls are coached by Pat Egelus. The Frontiersman apologizes for the error.