Lady Bengals stopped
No. 16 Crabbers go on 18-0 run on way to 55-33 win

By Santiago Ramos
Staff Sports Writer

ALBUQUERQUE — Gallup was held scoreless for nine minutes in the first half as USA Today No. 16 ranked Hampton cruised past the Lady Bengals 55-33 Friday afternoon during the opening day of the 2nd Annual T-Mobile Invitational at the Pit.

Before a crowd of about 8,000 Bengal fans, Gallup simply could not match up or keep up with the Hampton Crabbers out of Virginia after the opening period.

“They’re a great team,” veteran Gallup head coach John Lomasney said. “We’d have to play a perfect game to beat them. We’re not accustomed to playing a team with five great athletes. Their athleticism is way above ours. We couldn’t run our offense. We got into foul trouble.”

The 8-2 Lady Bengals stayed with the 6-1 Crabbers, the defending Virginia Class AAA state champion for the first quarter.

Then Gallup got into foul trouble quickly.

Senior all-state guard Telisha Joe and junior forward-center Sage Natonabah each picked up a pair of fouls in the opening minutes and sat out for more than a quarter.

Hampton’s talented junior point guard Tiffany Davis, who was the East Region Player of the Year and a first team all-stater as an all-around sophomore who averaged 18 points, six rebounds, 4 1/2 steals and four steals a game last year, also was called for a pair of quick fouls in the opening period. However unlike Joe and Natonabah, Davis managed to stay on the court and played the entire game for the Crabbers without getting another foul. With her cutting and spinning moves to the hoop, Davis sliced and diced Gallup’sl man-to-man to top all scorers with an impressive 24 points. She accounted for seven of Hampton’s first nine points of the game.

“I told her (Davis) not to get her third foul,” veteran Hampton head coach David Six said. “I told her to back off on defense. She made an adjustment.”

On the other hand, Joe, who is Gallup’s top player, was held scoreless for nearly 18 minutes before finally burying a 10-footer with 6:15 of the third quarter. By that time, Hampton had a comfortable 31-15 lead that Gallup could not cut into the rest of the game.

The Lady Bengals, a former four-time state champion, found weakness in the Crabbers’ man-to-man defense from long range. Gallup, which never led in the game, drilled 4 of 8 treys in the opening period - a pair by Janelle Largo and treys by Nicole Tsosie and Stevie Hudson. The second three-pointer by Largo tied the game for the second time at 13-all with just over a minute left in the opening period.

“We made an adjustment and went to a 1-2-2 zone,” Six said. “It was loud in the first quarter when it was tied 13-13. We wanted to take them (the fans) out of the game. We’ve never seen them (Gallup) play but we heard they like to slow it down. We tried to slow it down to take the crowd out of the game.”

In the second quarter, uncharacteristic turnovers by the Lady Bengals opened the door wide open for Hampton.

A pair of steals by Tiffany Davis, who turned an impressive quadruple double last year against Newport News Warick High School with 33 points, 10 rebounds, 12 assists and 11 steals, and one by Jocelyn Davis pushed Hampton to a 27-13 cushion at the half. All Gallup had to show for it was 0-of-3 shooting with nine turnovers in the period.

Joe and Natonabah both re-entered the ballgame with just three minutes left in the first half and with the Lady Bengals in trouble. Even that did not help.

The Crabbers capped an 18-0 run at the start of the third period on scores by Tiffany Davis and junior guard-forward Alyssa Bennett.

Hampton closed out the third period with a spinning move scored and a nice layup by Tiffany Davis that gave the Crabbers a 22-point 44-22 advantage. Tiffany Davis added a pair of free throws to start the fourth quarter that gave Hampton its biggest lead of the game, 46-22.

With 1:50 left in the game, coach Six pulled his starters with his team, which had outscored their opponents 434-183, leading 52-28. The Crabbers ended up winning by 22 points, 55-33.

“The second half I was pleased with,” Lomasney said. “We were running our offense. But (having) a perfect game wasn’t in it. We didn’t meet the challenge from the start. We’ll be a better team tomorrow, next week.”

The only stat that the Lady Bengals dominated was from three-point range with 7 of 25 shooting for 28 percent. Hampton was 0-for-1.

Tiffany Davis topped all scorers with 24 points on a sizzling 10 of 12 shooting along with three steals, three rebounds, and one assist. Bennett complimented Davis with 16 points along with nine boards, two steals and one block.

Gallup’s leading scorer was senior forward Courtney Cowboy with eight points along with five rebounds. After being scoreless in the first half due to foul trouble, Joe chipped in seven points before fouling out with 3:22 left in the game. Largo added six points on a pair of treys.

We tried our best,” Joe said after the game. “But they’re a really competitive-playing team. They’re taller and quick on the press. They cover a lot of space.”

The 8-2 Lady Bengals, ranked No. 2 in the Class 5A state polls, finished with 16 turnovers after having nine in the scoreless second quarter. The Lady Crabbers scored 17 of their points off turnovers and 40 points inside the paint. In stark contrast, Gallup scored six points off turnovers and had no points in the paint.

Hampton outshot Gallup from the field, 55 percent (22 of 40) to 39 percent (12 of 31). The Lady Bengals took 25 of their 31 field goal attempts from long range, unable to penetrate Hampton stingy defense inside the paint.
Lomasney said he was pleased with the large Bengal following.

“Look at the fans,” he said. “That’s why we’re here. They believe in us. This is one of the best teams we’ve faced. We had to play with a lot of heart but you can’t do that with 16 turnovers. We’re a little better passing team that what we did today. We’re a better ballclub when we’re moving and not just standing. Hampton took away the passing lanes.”

Gallup will have played the Chaminade-Julienne Eagles of Dayton, Ohio, earlier today in the consolation game.

Hampton will play former No. 1 ranked Long Beach Cal Poly Jackrabbits, 67-61 winners over Chaminade-Julienne, at 2 p.m. in the girls championship game.

In the boys bracket, St. Anthony, which was ranked No. 1 last year with a nation-leading 24 state titles including a national record nine state titles in a row, whipped La Cueva of Albuquerque 52-23 while Utah 5A state champ Lone Peak dumped Centennial of Roswell, Ga. 75-57.

St. Anthony will play Lone Peak today in the boys championship game at 3:30 p.m. with La Cueva and Centennial, Georgia’s Class 5A state runnerup last year, squaring off at 12:30 p.m. in the consolation game.