Quick Start Carries Alemany to Victory Over St. Bernard : Girls’ basketball: Indians open 17-4 lead in the first quarter en route to a 73-50 win in a Mission League game.
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After a slow start had proved costly in a 10-point loss to host Bishop Montgomery High Tuesday night, the Alemany girls’ basketball team wanted to make sure it got out of the gate fast at home against St. Bernard on Thursday night.
And the Indians did just that in a 73-50 Mission League victory.
A 10-0 run midway through the first quarter boosted Alemany to a 17-4 advantage and the Vikings never got closer than 10 points.
“If you are not ready to play right from the start against St. Bernard, they are so talented you are down 20 points before you know it,” Alemany Coach Melissa Melton said.
“If we had not won this game tonight, we could not have won the league.”
The Indians (14-3, 1-1 in league play) thrived on a suffocating defense and balanced offense to overpower St. Bernard (14-3, 1-1).
Alemany freshman guard Kelly McKay scored 17 points, dished out five assists and kept St. Bernard standout Joi Turner in check. The Indians’ 6-foot-2 senior center, Sarah Guziel, added 17 points, eight rebounds, seven blocked shots and six assists.
“Our game plan was to keep the ball out of Joi’s hands and Kelly did a great job on her,” Melton said. “Kelly didn’t let her penetrate very often and that’s how Joi can really hurt you.”
McKay held Turner, The Times’ South Bay area player of the year last season, to 14 points, most of those coming on outside jump shots.
“I just wanted to keep her from shooting,” McKay said. “We played really good defense and our shots were falling.”
Three other Alemany players scored in double figures. Samantha Rigley had 13 points, Rachel Corelli 11 and Zevette Mitchell 10 points to go with her game-high nine rebounds.
“This was a crucial game,” said Guziel, who was held to four points in the loss to Bishop Montgomery. “We were really fired up for this game. We wanted to shut (St. Bernard) down from the beginning.”
Alemany will play host to Bishop Montgomery on Feb. 4 and will travel to St. Bernard on Feb. 6 in games that should greatly affect the Mission League race.
