Kentridge shows championship form in rout of Bellarmine Prep

Pick your poison with No. 3 Kentridge.

The Chargers flashed their scoring depth on Saturday, with Dalya Ballena leading the pack with a career-high 19 points and senior Morgan Gary adding 15 to propel Kentridge (24-2) to a 68-34 win over No. 7 Bellarmine Prep (20-5) in a state regional game on Saturday at Auburn Mountainview High School.

A 34-point win with star forwards Jordyn Jenkins and Jaquaya Miller only combining for 18 points? That’s a good sign for the Chargers.

“Our posts are so good, we need to make sure they get touches, but if our guards can shoot like they did today, we are really tough to beat,” Kentridge head coach Bob Sandall said. “If we just keep that up and keep sharing the ball and keep being good teammates — that’s really important for us.”

Kentridge, the reigning 4A state champions, receives a first-round bye in the upcoming 4A girls state tournament at the Tacoma Dome. Bellarmine Prep gets the winner of University and Sunnyside — played Saturday at 6 p.m. — in the first round on Wednesday.

Senior post Shalyse Smith didn’t play for the Lions with a right ankle sprain and was in walking boot on Saturday. She will be questionable moving forward, according to BP head coach Kim West, although she’s hopeful she’ll return. The University of Arizona signee suffered the injury in the first quarter of last weekend’s bi-district tournament final, in which Kentridge won 55-41.

Without Smith, the Lions packed the paint to counter the Chargers’ size and dared their guards to beat them.

The Chargers jumped out to a 23-8 lead after the first quarter, then opened it up even more after a 13-0 run to start the second quarter.

“Our kids really came out hard and played intense right from the start,” Kentridge head coach Bob Sandall said. “When you play Bellarmine, they’re always so intense. They put so much pressure on you defensively. If you don’t match that, you’re going to be playing on your heals all night. Our kids, to their credit, really got that and came out and put pressure on them right from the beginning, and I think that dictated the way the game was played early on.”

The biggest bright spot for the Chargers was Ballena, who showed certainty with her outside shot by draining five 3-pointers, one of which was a step-back from the top of the key.

“Dayla is coming along,” Sandall said. “She really had her best game in a while. She shot well, she made great decisions with the ball. She’s really an up-and-comer.”

Ballena said she’s started to come into her own and find her role with the Chargers.

“When I was younger I used to do that a lot,” Ballena said of her hot shooting. “But after entering high school, I got kind of timid and less confident. I think today I was so excited I couldn’t even sleep, so I knew today would be the day I would come out and be confident.”

For Bellarmine, West said her players put an unnecessary burden on themselves to do too much after losing Smith, the Lions’ heart and soul.

“It’s always a growing experience with these girls, but it’s frustrating that it’s more of the mental side,” West said. “We didn’t bring it today.”

Kentridge isn’t going to rest on its laurels after Saturday’s win. A state championship repeat will be hard fought, especially with No. 1 Central Valley on the horizon, which whacked the Chargers 57-39 on Jan. 15.

“There’s just no breathing room now,” Sandall said. “If we’re not at our best from that opening tip, it’s not going to be easy for us.”

But a glimpse of how the machine runs when all the cogs are at full strength emboldened the Chargers for a run at back-to-back 4A state titles.

“If we all come together, I don’t think anyone can stop us,” Miller said.

This story was originally published February 24, 2018 at 6:38 PM with the headline "Kentridge shows championship form in rout of Bellarmine Prep."