Girls Basketball: Nighthawks Dominate in CIF State Championship Opening Game

The Westchester Lady Comets came in blazing Wednesday night at the Hawk House, and it looked like it was going to be a tough game by the end of the first period.

Leading by five at the beginning of the second, the Lady Nighthawks settled down and took control of the game. Murrieta Valley scored 23 points in that period to coast to a 38-18 lead at halftime of the first round of the CIF State Girls Open Division Basketball Championships, Division 2.

"We had a great team effort tonight," said Nighthawk Coach Scott Richards.

Ariana Hernandez scored seven points with 10 assists. Deshea Wilkes scored 13 points and earned three assists with nine rebounds. Aliah Marshall had an outstanding game with 22 points, four rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Karen Wolf had another double-double scoring 15 points with 10 rebounds. Brynn Dahmer scored two with 10 rebounds.

"Our bench also came up huge with six points each for Alex Morrison and Julia Cardenas. It was a fun game to watch," said Coach Richards, who named Cardenas player of the game.

The Comets made an attempt to come back in the fourth, scoring 24 points in the period but it was too little too late for Westchester as the Nighthawks held strong and finished the game 71-48.

"We once again proved ourselves at the charity stripe shooting 18 for 22 from the line. We also went an amazing 25 for 50 from the field earning an incredible 50% shooting percentage. I am so proud of the team and how well they have performed with each other throughout the playoffs," Coach Richards said.

"Even though we didn't know too much about Westchester leading up to the game due to the short turn around, we knew that they were going to be aggressive and press a lot. Our players did a good job of sharing the ball and passing to get around their zone press. We were able to use our passing to find some open baskets on transition.

"Thank you to our fans that kept the Hawk House humming tonight. It was a loud and energetic environment and we are all so proud to wear Murrieta Valley across our chests."

The Nighthawks will travel to Bakersfield Saturday to face Ridgeview High School in round two of the State Championships.

The Wolfpack are coming off a 64-47 victory over Redondo Union, who lost to the Nighthawks 60-56 in the CIF SS Division 2A Championship game. The Wolfpack are 27-3 and are the CIF Central Section Division 2 Champions.

See more photos of the game by clicking here.