St. Mary's dumps Windward in battle of top girls teams

St. Mary's came out  fast behind Cortnee Walton and Courtney Ekmark and maintained a double-digit lead Monday in dispatching Windward High (Los Angeles, Calif.), 62-48, in a clash of nationally ranked girls teams at the 9th annual Martin Luther King Basketball Classic at ASU's Wells Fargo Arena.

Walton scored eight of her 10 points in the first period in transition and on the offsensive glass and Ekmark chipped in with seven of her 16 points helping St. Mary's jump to a 22-10 lead after one quarter. St.  Mary's is now 16-0 overall. Windward dropped to 16-3 overall. The Wildcats were led off the bench by Kristen Simon, who scored a game-high 20 points. Simon got Windward back in the game late in the third period with her play inside. She also had seven rebounds. 

Chantel Osahor, the power-built but agile forward, picked up the slack of  foul-plagued Walton in the second period. Osahor, who missed four of her first five first 3-point shots, found the range in the second period making a pair and finishing the first half with nine points. Osahor tied for team-high honors with Ekmark with 16 points.

Shilpa Tummala, the fourth Lady Knight to score in double figures for the game, tallied 13. Six came in the fourth period as St. Mary's turned back a run by Winward that cut the lead to six entering the final period. Tummala burned Windward for a basket on  briefly cut the lean inbounds play to start the final period and later got two free throws when she ad to five.again beat the defense on a length of the court inbounds play. Those baskets stretched the lead back to double figures the rest of the way.