Highlights: Birmingham girls basketball cruises past Desert Hills in Tarkanian Classic semifinals
HENDERSON, Nev. - Interstate holiday tournaments are one of the best parts of high school basketball.
They can also be a grind. Most high-profile tournaments on the West Coast consist of three or four games in three or four days, and some parts of the country have even more grueling holiday tournaments.
So, how can teams stay fresh on their title hunts? How about outscoring the competition 30-2 in the first quarter.
That's exactly what Birmingham did on Wednesday in the Sapphire Division semifinals at the Tarkanian Classic, annihilating a solid Desert Hills (UT) foe a quarter into the game with a 26-point run and winning 61-41. Here's the complete highlight video from the game (video embedded).
Sammy Velasquez led the Patriots' balanced effort with 16 points to go with five rebounds and four steals. Annette Jones (12pts, five steals) and DeeDee Berry (11pts four rebounds, two steals) also scored in double-figures for Birmingham, and Natalie Lopez notched eight points and a game-high seven assists.
While the first quarter couldn't have gone any worse for the Thunder, Desert Hills rounded into form as soon as the second quarter started, and has more than a few nice plays on the highlight reel. They would go on to win both the second quarter and the third quarter, and play the fourth quarter evenly, trimming the final deficit to 20 points. To be sure, that had a lot to do with Birmingham taking its foot off the pedal and spreading the minutes around with a championship against Palisades looming. But it had more to do with Desert Hills showing its resolve and its potency.
– Lance Smith | lance@scorebooklive.com | @sbliveca
