Hayden Turrini scored on a three point play with 2:06 left in the first quarter which gave Windsor a 10-9 lead over Santa Rosa. That was part of a promising start between the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked girls teams in the YSN365.com rankings.
On the next possession, Devin Murray scored a hoop to give Santa Rosa back the lead at 11-10. That was the fourth lead change of the quarter and there had also been two ties.
That would be the last of either.
Santa Rosa then went on a run and it was a long run. When Murray scored again two minutes into the third, the run was 24-3 and the Panthers had a 33-13 lead. Windsor did score the next seven points, but that was as close as they got as Santa Rosa cruised home to a 58-37 win.
When things started close, the Panthers relied on its pressing defense, which was one of the reason Windsor had eighteen turnovers. Katie Daly led the charge with nine steals.
The twin towers of Devin Murray and Morgan Bertsch were at it again combining for 33 points. Bertsch missed a double-double by one rebound. Murray scored ten points during the long run.
Windsor did have a couple of bright sides. Guard Kerianne Noonan was the games leading scorer with 19 points and Center Jessica Barbosa added 10. Barbosa made Bertsch earn everything on defense and gobbled up a game high 19 rebounds.
At times Windsor showed why they have a 10-3 record, but it wasn’t nearly enough for a Santa Rosa team that is 11-1 and 2-0 in NBL play.
Santa Rosa isn’t the only team that is 2-0. No. 3 Cardinal Newman joined them at that mark after going on the road and defeating No. 4 Casa Grande 40-31. A 9-2 in the last nine minutes was the difference. Kylie Kiech and Tiffany Salinas combined for 23 points to lead the Cardinals.
Cardinal Newman won the game despite turning the ball over 24 times, compared to 11 for Casa Grande.
That was offset by a dominating effort on the boards by a Cardinal team that comes as close to matching Santa Rosa height wise as anyone in the league.
Cardinal Newman is 9-5 on the season. Casa Grande falls to 7-5 and has split its first two NBL games.
Montgomery and Maria Carrillo joins Casa Grande and Windsor at 1-1 after getting its first league win.
No. 7 Montgomery bounced back from its league opening loss to Santa Rosa by jumping out to a 25 point halftime lead and defeated Rancho Cotate 76-39. Madison Norby had season high in three’s with six and points with 24 to lead Montgomery. She was one of four Vikings in double figures.
Maria Carrillo went to Ukiah and pulled away in the fourth quarter to take a 40-29. Vai Thomas and Morgan Vendrick combined for 22 to lead the Pumas who are now 6-7 on the season.
No. 5 Ukiah has dropped its first two league games and is 5-6 overall.
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