Hamilton Heights’ girls avenged a tough loss in the 2017 Dick’s Sporting Goods national championship game in New York on Friday, routing Miami (Florida) Country Day, 71-39, in the Raatz Fense/O’Shea’s Classic in Louisville, Kentucky.
Sophomore wing Treasure Hunt (No. 10 in ESPN 2020 rankings) scored a game-high 18 points and went 3 for 5 from behind the 3-point arc.
Another sophomore, Kamilla Cardosa (No. 13, 2020), turned in a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds.
Elizabeth Balogun and Jazmine Massengill, who were named to the McDonald’s All-America team earlier this week, had 15 and seven points, respectively.
Junior Esmery Martinez just missed a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds.
The second-ranked Lady Hawks (17-2) built a 20-15 first-quarter lead and turned to their defense to outscore the Lady Spartans 31-14 in the second and third quarters. As the turnovers mounted, the Lady Hawks had a 20-10 advantage in the fourth period for the final 22-point victory.
Koi Love paced Country Day (11-9) with 10 points.
Also on Friday night, the Hamilton Heights boys’ team hosted Central Park from Birmingham, Alabama, and walked away with an 89-73 victory at their on-campus gym on Hickory Valley Road.
Jordan Rawls led all scorers with 24 points – he won an offensive duel with Central Park’s Jayden Stone, who scored 22 points.
Kevaughn Ellis had 15 points, Uros Plasvic 12 and Tre Edwards 10 for the Hawks (13-4).
Hamilton Heights’ 6-foot-11 Jason Jitoboh scored all of his nine points and the Eagles’ 6-9 Sekou Dembele tossed in eight points as the Hawks took a 26-16 lead. The Hawks had a 16-6 run in the quarter.
Central Park (13-4) got five of those 10 points back in the second period, but Ellis’ two 3s and a thunder dunk helped the Hawks take a 48-43 lead into halftime.
The teams played evenly in the third period, but the Hawks built a 20-point lead early I the fourth quarter before each team turned the action over to reserve players.
Sekou Dembele scored 17 points and Dimitry Ruyny added 15 for the Eagles.
Boxscores
Girls Game
Miami Country Day 15 8 6 10 – 39
Hamilton Heights 20 17 14 20 – 71
Miami Country Day (39) – Shaw 5, Alvarez 6, Fishman, Godfrey, Taylor 2, J. Theodule 2, Koi Love 10, E. Theodule 8, Berry 6, Gordon.
Hamilton Heights (71) – Massengill 7, Elizabeth Balogun 15, R. Balogun 2, Treasure Hunt 18, Rodriquez, Smith, E. Martinez 4, Kamilla Cardosa 16, P. Martinez 9, Manzano, Jitoboh.
3-Point Goals – Miami Country Day 6 (Alvarez 2, E. Theodule 2, Shaw 1, Love 1), Hamilton Heights 6 (Hunt 3, Massengill 1, E. Balogun 1, P. Martinez 1).
Boys Game
Central Park 16 27 18 12 – 73
Hamilton Heights 26 22 19 22 – 89
Central Park (73) – Johnson 2, Smith 5, Jackson 2, Dimitry Ryuny 15, McConica, Jayden Stone 22, Baruti 6, Sekou Dembele 17, Gormely 2.
Hamilton Heights (89) – Kevaughn Ellis 15, Jordan Rawls 24, Panzo 8, Tre Edwards 10, Gilgeous-Alexander, Ambrose 2, Ruzhentsev 7, LeGuenne 2, Jitoboh 9, Uros Plasvic 12.
3-Point Goals – Central Park 5 (Ryuny 3, Stone 1, Smith 1), Hamilton Heights 8 (Rawls 4, Ellis 3, Ruzhentsev 1.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)