Top-ranked Western wanted to avenge last year's loss to No. 3 Hammond so badly, it almost undercut its game plan.
The Doves (4-0) could not shake Hammond early, but they finally ran away in the third quarter en route to a 60-46 victory last night in the Fuel Fund Classic at UMBC.
In last year's Fuel Fund game, Hammond won a 61-60 thriller to claim the No. 1 ranking. The Doves were determined not to let that happen again.
"I think they wanted to win too much," said Western coach Breezy Bishop. "The emotions got out of whack. When the
emotions get out of whack, you're not going to play your best game."
Although Western never trailed after 4-3, the Doves really did not click offensively early.
"We just were not moving on offense in the first half," said Bishop. "This is a good passing team and [last night], we did not execute that at all."
Things improved for the Doves early in the second half when their running game sparked a 10-point run and a 41-23 lead. The Bears (2-2) managed just two shots and not one rebound in the two-minute stretch.
Tesha Tinsley had two points and fed Danielle Davis and Kimberly Smith for break-away layups in the rally. After that, Hammond never got closer than 12.
"The first two minutes of the third quarter killed us," said Hammond coach Joe Russo. "Once they got moving on transition, they got a lot of easy baskets. They pushed [the lead] up to 18 points and we never ever could come back."
Hammond had closed several 10-point gaps to three in the first half. The first after the Doves broke away in a 13-2 stretch capped by Smith's sensational crowd-pleasing behind-the-back assist to Chanel Wright on a two-on-one break. Fouled on the play, Wright hit the free throw to give the Doves a 16-6 lead.
But Hammond came right back. Tiki Nicholson's 20-footer and Rene Hines' follow helped pull the Bears within 19-16 early in the second quarter despite five turnovers on their first six possessions.
Wright, who led the Doves with 21 points and 11 rebounds, put an end to that Hammond spurt. She scored four points and added an assist as the Doves pulled ahead 29-21 by halftime.
The Bears might have kept pace with better free-throw shooting, but they hit just six of 14 in the first half.
For the state Class 2A champs, the matchup proved a difficult one after graduating two starters.
"Our team is really different, because we don't have the squad that we had last year," said Nicholson, a senior point guard. "That hurts us in the big games when we're not used to working with each other, but we hustled and we tried our hardest."
Tameka Harrison and Kellye Townsend led the Bears with 12 points.
For Western, coming off Friday night's 71-52 win at Washington Township, N.J., Smith had 15 points while Davis and Marion Moore had eight each.