WINTER SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS : Louisville Makes Point in 70-59 Win

The point, at game’s emotional end, was as punctuated as the result.

“This,” said Louisville High girls basketball Coach Brian O’Hara, “proves it. I don’t think there’s anymore discussion who’s the best in the Valley. It’s us. And you can quote me on that.”

Louisville, rated No. 2 in the Southern Section 3-A Division, presented its case Thursday night with a 70-59 victory over No. 5-ranked Alemany in a San Fernando Valley League game at Louisville.

It was the 23rd consecutive league victory and 21st consecutive home victory for Louisville (13-2 overall, 4-0 in league). It was also Louisville’s eighth straight victory over Alemany (14-4, 3-1 in league).

“No question: Louisville is a great team,” Alemany Coach Melissa Milton said. “But we had a chance. Great teams are going to score, you just have to make it harder on them.”

For most of this one, Alemany did make it hard on Louisville. But Andrea Knapp, a 6-2 All-American, was simply too much with a game-high 32 points.

In the first quarter, Knapp had 10 points to give Louisville a 16-15 advantage. In the second quarter, she scored 12 of her team’s 18 points to give the Royals a 34-22 halftime lead.

But a feisty Alemany team refused to wilt and pulled to within 50-46 with 5:54 left in the game.

“They wouldn’t give up; they just kept coming at us,” O’Hara said. “We never seemed to wipe ‘em out.”

But the Indians lost hope--and the game--when starting guard Jenny Beubis (11 points) fouled out with 4:19 left. That, coupled with the absence of scoring-leader Jennifer Kroll (18) for most of the second half with foul trouble, didn’t give Alemany much of a chance to contend with Louisville.

Guard Lynn Flanagan added 16 points for Louisville.

“It seems like we couldn’t get them on the court at the same time,” Milton said. “That’s a lot of points. My two best players were really needed.”

ALEMANY--Kroll 18, Schoenmann 9, Hoffman 0, Beubis 11, Junio 12, Castandeo 6, Luison 2, Sasaduesz 1.

LOUISVILLE--Knapp 32, Flanagan 16, Kohler 9, Carpenter 2, Terhar 8, Gaffney 2, Robinson 1.