Lady Honkers pull away from Pierce

The Willows High girls basketball team overcame a slow start and pulled away for a 62-30 home victory against Sacramento Valley League opponent Pierce on Friday in Willows.

Ally Brunner scored six consecutive points in the second quarter and consistently scored on second-chance buckets to finish with a game-high 22 points.

The Honkers (13-6, 5-1 SVL) entered halftime with a nine-point lead, but were wary of a letdown after a surprising loss to Durham Tuesday in a game tied at halftime.

"(Coach Julio Garcia) just gave us a good talk at halftime and really said we really need to put our heads into the game. We can lose any game really. Durham was a big awakening for us and we didn't want another Durham game," Brunner said.

Willows came out of halftime and went on a 19-2 run. Brunner scored six points, sophomore guard Morgan Hughes scored six and Samantha Brott had four points during the run.

Both teams run a full-court press, but the Honkers were able to create turnovers on defense and took care of the ball on offense in the second half.

"We had a slow offensive start to the game, normally we shoot the ball a little better, but we came out, picked up our defensive intensity and that kind of turned into easy buckets for us," Garcia said.

By the fourth quarter, the nine-point halftime lead ballooned to a 45-22 advantage despite two 3-pointers by Pierce's Natalie Corona late in the third.

Corona finished with a team-high 11 points, Kelsie Kent added nine points and Marina Ambriz scored six for the Bears.

Hughes scored 16 points for Willows, Brott added eight, Baneli Lomeli scored seven and Kaylin Renfro added six.

Pierce (6-9, 1-4 SVL) hosts East Nicolaus on Tuesday and travels to Durham on Thursday.

Willows plays next in Live Oak on Friday.

CONTACT Kirk Barron at 458-2121 or kbarron@tcnpress.com.