RedHawks soar to victory versus Braves

The Colusa High girls basketball team pulled out all the stops on Saturday during their matchup against host Hamilton, as the RedHawks flew away with a dominant 47-32 win over the Braves on Saturday in the Marty Passaglia Tournament.

The Braves came out of the gate with plenty of go, grabbing the early lead in the first quarter. After going up, Hamilton started loosening their slack and the RedHawks took full advantage, with Emily Mobley helping Colusa keep the Lady Braves' Audra Jones out of the paint.

As the first quarter came to an end, the visitors led 7-6.

Jones found the hoop for the first points of the second quarter, but the RedHawks continued to contain the Hamilton offense.

Three-pointers from Paige Townzen and Savannah Miller gave Colusa momentum, while Hamilton faltered trying to run their offense. As the first half ended, the RedHawks had out-scored Hamilton 18-4.

Miller finished with four three-pointers on the night and 17 points, while Mobley scored 10 points and collected 12 rebounds.

A comeback effort from the Braves in the third quarter appeared to turn the tables, with Jones successfully forging a path for herself to the net, while tallying eight of the 11 Hamilton points scored in the third.

This time, it was the Braves that out-scored the RedHawks 11-7, but Colusa still held the 32-21 lead going into the final quarter of the game.

Jones ended the evening leading her team with 17 points and 14 rebounds.

In the fourth quarter the RedHawks made sure to keep to the Braves like glue, while a few errant passes from Hamilton created opportunities for the RedHawks to take advantage.

Even the game-effort of Braves' Justine McCorkle and Taylor Thomson couldn't put enough on the board to move Hamilton past Colusa, who was beginning to pull away.

Miller, who was able to get free fairly often, hit her fourth and final 3-pointer in the fourth quarter, further igniting her team and putting the RedHawks up 39-32.

Despite never giving up, the Braves were unable score again in the fourth, and the RedHawks sealed the win.

Following the game, Hamilton coach Mark Priano commented, "We were not taking care of the ball tonight.

Our passing and moving of our offense was a little slow. We've just got to take care of the fundamentals, and focus on heart, desire and hustle."

After the win, RedHawks Head coach Jerry Davies spoke highly of his team's hard work, saying, "I want to commend our defensive effort, they did a great job. We knew it would be hard to penetrate the 2-3 zone and we designed our plays accordingly, to swing the ball quick and keep the ball moving. We have a lot of respect for (Audra) Jones and the Hamilton team. We purposefully put together a tougher schedule this year, and we've gained experience from that."

The Braves (3-4 overall) traveled to Pierce on Tuesday, while Colusa hosts Wheatland on Jan. 4

Wednesday results

Las Plumas 73, Hamilton 31

Thursday results

Las Plumas 45, Colusa 43

Hamilton 61, Quincy 33

Friday results

Colusa 64, Quincy 32

CONTACT Emily Saint-Evens at 824-7990 or esaintevens@tcnpress.com.