Hamilton Heights’ Lady Hawks continued on its historic march through the final stages of the 2016-17 basketball season Friday in New York City.
The Lady Hawks (29-1) shocked No. 1-ranked St. Frances (Md.) 56-55 in overtime in the prestigious Dick’s Sporting Goods National tournament at Christ the King High School.
It was the first loss this season in 31 games for the St.
Frances Panthers and came in the semifinals of the tournament.
Hamilton Heights will play Miami Country Day (Fla.), which beat Seton Catholic (Ariz.) 55-48 in the other semifinal showdown, at 10 a.m. Saturday for the championship. The game will be televised by ESPN2. Country Day is 30-1 on the season.
Elizabeth Balogun scored 14 points and had nine rebounds for the Lady Hawks and Jazmine Massengill finished with 12 points, six points and three assist. Rokia Doumbia had four points and six rebounds.
Treasure Hunt and Amber Hunt each scored nine points. Amber Hunt hit three of the team’s five 3-pointers.
Angel Reese scored a game-high 20 points and grabbed a whopping 24 rebounds for the Panthers. Mia Davis had 13 points and 13 rebounds. The Panthers outrebounded the Lady Hawks 61-45.
Hamilton Heights made 22-of-61 shots and went 7-for-14 at the free-throw line. The Panthers were 17-of-74 from the field and 17-of-27 from the charity stripe.
The Lady Hawks started the game on a 9-0 run and had a 25-21 halftime advantage, but stretched the margin to 40-27 in the third quarter. St. Frances went on a 13-0 run that started with 1:16 left in the third period and ended with 4:39 left in regulation.
Reese’s put-back at the buzzer tied the game at 50 forced the overtime period.
The two teams swapped 3-point goals and then settled the outcome at the free-throw line. Two Reese free throws gave the Panthers a 55-54 lead with 2:28 remaining.
St. Frances then fouled Balogun and she made both tosses for winning points. Balogun was 3-for-4 at the stripe in the overtime.
The Panthers missed five layups in the final 1:44, including two in the last 21 seconds.
LINESCORE
St. Frances (Md.) 6 15 10 19 5 – 55
Hamilton Heights (Tenn.) 11 14 15 10 6 – 56
St. Frances (55) – Mia Davis 13, Settle, Angel Reese 20, Jackson, Pinnick 9, Carroll 1, Nia Clouden 12, Hinton.
Hamilton Heights (56) – Jazmine Massengill 12, Elizabeth Balogun 14, T. Hunt 9, A. Hunt 9, Cardosa 4, Doumbia 4, Hickey-White 4.
3-Point Goals – St. Frances 4 (Pinnick 3, Clouden 1), Hamilton Heights 5 (A. Hunt 3, Balogun 1, T. Hunt 1).
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)