HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL : Alemany Blocks Bad Memories : Girls’ basketball: Funicello rejects seven shots in 51-36 victory at Sports Arena.
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When Carly Funicello entered the Sports Arena on Friday afternoon, she jogged a painful memory.
“It reminded a lot of us of last year at the Anaheim Arena,” Alemany High’s junior center said, referring to her team’s heart-breaking loss to Woodbridge in the State Division II semifinals.
“We didn’t want the result to be the same.”
Against Bishop Montgomery, it wasn’t. Funicello managed to block the memories, not to mention seven Knight shots, in a 51-36 nonleague victory.
Alemany, which has not really played a home game since last year’s earthquake, was the host team, courtesy of the Clippers.
The game was played as the second half of an Alemany boys-girls doubleheader prior to the Clippers’ game with Portland.
It was a rare opportunity for those at the game to see the home team victorious. The Clippers are 4-15 at the Sports Arena.
Funicello scored a game-high 18 points, but her defensive presence mattered even more.
Bishop Montgomery (11-4) was stuffed so many times, the Knights resorted to wild and often off-balance shots to get over the 6-foot-4 Funicello’s imposing wingspan.
“It’s like with Shaq or Hakeem Olajuwon,” Alemany Coach Melissa Hearlihy said. “People start thinking of just getting the shot over her.”
Many Bishop Montgomery shots did find their way past Funicello in the second half, only to slam hard off the backboard. The Knights were successful on four of their last 21 shots.
And that cold front swung into the Sports Arena at the right time for Alemany (13-3), which defeated Mission League rival Notre Dame just 19 hours earlier.
Bishop Montgomery trailed, 26-17, at the half, but quickly scored six points to close the margin to 26-23.
Bishop Montgomery soon went cold and the Indians took off. Kelly McKay scored 10 of her 16 points in the fourth quarter, many on layups off passes from Samantha Rigley.
Rigley, The Times’ Valley Player of the Year last season, scored six points and added seven assists and six rebounds. “We need Sam to be a leader and she did that today,” Hearlihy said.
It was just another tough nonleague game for Alemany. Bishop Montgomery, which finished second to the Indians in the Mission League last season, has moved to the Del Rey League, where it occupies first place.
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