Both the Sonoma Valley High Lady Dragons and the Napa Indians girls teams started slowly in Tuesday night’s basketball tilt. It took almost three minutes before the first points were scored, and halfway through the first quarter, the Lady Dragons held only a 4-0 lead.
In a game that stayed close for three quarters, Sonoma broke the game open in the fourth quarter and won 52-44.
“I’m happy with the way everyone contributed,” said Coach Jann Thorpe. “And I’m happy with our second half play.”
Thorpe was also pleased that the Lady Dragons out-rebounded the Indians by 20. Sonoma pulled down 46 rebounds to Napa’s 26.
Annika Ginter led the Lady Dragons with 13 boards – and everyone pulled down at least one. Sonoma led 8-5 after the first quarter, but things picked up in the second quarter as the score was knotted three times before a pair of free throws by Annie Neles and a basket by Alyssa Schimm gave Sonoma a 21-15 lead with two minutes to go in the half. And the Lady Dragons took a 23-20 lead into halftime.
The Indians used a 10-2 run in the first three minutes of the third quarter to take a 30-25 lead.
But Sydney Von Gober, Ginter and Jasmine Simpson-Gomez answered with deuces to put the Lady Dragons up by a point.
The teams traded baskets in the last three-plus minutes and Sonoma led 35-34 after three quarters.
Sonoma used a 13-5 run to take a 48-40 lead with just over a minute to play.
The Indians had to foul to get the ball back, and after Neles hit a pair with 47 seconds left and Schimm adding another pair with 11 seconds left, it was all over for the Napa squad.
“We still have to take better care of the ball under pressure,” Thorpe said. “We came out too amped up at the start of the second half.”
Thorpe got all 10 Lady Dragons in the game and eight of them scored.
Schimm led the attack with 12 points, Neles had 11, Ginter had nine, Simpson-Gomez had eight, Von Gober and Kasia Jacobson had four while Sophie Lucchetti and Sofia Vitale each had a pair.
The win gives the Lady Dragons a 4-2 record. They’re on the road Saturday with a 6 p.m. game at Casa Grande in Petaluma.
After Casa, they play their next four games on the road and won’t be back home until Dec. 30 when they host Maria Carrillo.
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