Solano survives over NVC
In a roller-coaster game between Bay Valley Conference archrivals Tuesday night, the Napa Valley College women's basketball team controlled the first half and then answered visiting Solano's first rally by taking a nine-point lead, its biggest of the game, midway through the second half.
But Taylor Hamilton scored nine of her 17 points as the Falcons went on a 9-2 run to take the lead for good with 6:15 remaining, and Denisha Lundy helped ice Solano's 72-63 victory with eight of her game-high 18 points.
Hamilton, a 5-foot-2 sophomore, capped her personal run by grabbing a loose ball on her own half of the court and driving darting through the key for a lay-up and 55-53 lead.
"She's a good player. She made plays when she had to," NVC head coach Vincent Shaw said of Hamilton, a St. Patrick-St. Vincent graduate, who had only eight points in the first half. "We kept her quiet, then all of the sudden no one can guard her, no one can find her. I give them credit for what they did, but it's more or less what we didn't do."
After trailing 42-34 at halftime, the first-place Falcons (12-4, 3-0 BVC) forced 11 turnovers in the second half while coughing up the ball only four times.
The Storm (6-7, 1-2 BVC) were led in the second half by six points apiece from Sara Irvine (game-high 18 points on six 3-pointers) and Ashley Rehm (16 points). Napa Valley's top scorer on the year, Reana Hardin, had all of her 10 points in the first half.
"We stopped rebounding, we stopped being aggressive, we stopped attacking. We played not to lose, as opposed to playing to win," Shaw said. "What it boils down to is we've got to take care of the basketball. I'll bet they had at least twice as many shots in the second half. We didn't even get a chance to get good shots up because we turned the ball over way too many times."
Solano was 14 of 33 from the field in the second half, while NVC was 7 of 23.
"That's a good team, and when you play them you've got to play 40 minutes, not 25," Shaw said. "We missed too many assignments in the second half."
Laura Lawson and Nikki Andaya added 10 points apiece for Solano, which overcame 15 for 28 free-throw shooting. Napa High graduate Kristina Kountouris added two points.
Napa Valley, which was 8 of 16 from the line, also got eight points from Allana Burnham, six first-half points from Michelina Jordan, and five second-half points from Tomorie Sangster, who fouled out with 3:08 left.
With Stacie Gatison probably out for the season with a back injury and Jenna Pena still out with knee arthritis, the Storm had only three players on the bench.
"Hopefully we can get Jenna back for a few games in the second half of league," Shaw said. "We've got to weather the storm. We've got to get better at what we do, follow through with our assignments and take care of the basketball, and we'll be fine."
Napa Valley was coming off Saturday's 66-65 home loss to Merritt. Leading the way were Sangster with 16 points, Hardin with 15, Irvine with 13 and Rehm with 10. Jordan added seven and Burnham three.
The Storm will visit Contra Contra-San Pablo at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.