Alemany Answers Late Wake-Up Call

All’s well that ends well for the Alemany High girls’ basketball team.

Even if it didn’t start out that way.

After falling behind by 16 points early in the third quarter, Alemany charged back for a 53-42 victory in a Mission League finale Thursday night at Louisville.

“Geez, I don’t know,” Alemany forward Francine Bennette said. “We weren’t ready but we got it in the end. We weren’t going to lose this one.”

The Indians easily could have. Until a 12-2 run that carried over into the fourth quarter, it looked like they might.

“It did, didn’t it?” Alemany Coach Melissa Hearlihy said. “We were flat, but at least we finally woke up.”

The victory gave the Indians a share of their fourth consecutive league title and ninth in 12 years.

Alemany (20-4, 9-1 in league play) tied for first with Harvard-Westlake.

“We wanted them, and to come this close, it’s disappointing,” Louisville Coach Paula Getty-Shearer said. “I’m just really proud of the girls. We just ran out of gas in the second half.”

Louisville (15-6, 6-4) began the third quarter in good shape, scoring the first four points to extend a 30-18 halftime advantage to the biggest lead of the game at 34-18.

However, Alemany rallied behind the play of Kate Beckler, who scored all eight of her points in the last three minutes of the third quarter while Louisville standout Becky Witt, who finished with 12 points and eight rebounds, was on the bench.

Alemany scored 13 of the last 15 points of the quarter to close to within 36-31.

The Indians, who made just 11 of 46 shots in the first three quarters, made seven of nine in the fourth. They took their first lead, 39-38, with 5:30 to play, and they never relinquished it after scoring the next 11 points.

The Indians benefited from the inside play of 5-foot-11 Bennette, who finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds before leaving with a gash on her forehead and a bruised right cheekbone suffered in a scramble for the ball with 1:42 left.

Louisville got 14 points and 12 rebounds from Peggy Johnson.