Ehrig leads Hawks' revenge win over Kings

This time there was no comeback. No seven-minute scoreless stretch.

Just plenty of Summer Ehrig and a revenge victory.

Ehrig scored 23 points as Gila Ridge avenged a loss to Kofa with a 60-36 home win on Friday in Gila Valley Region play.

“We were all really pumped and wanted to beat them really bad,” Ehrig said. “We just came out hard and ran the ball.”

The Hawks (19-3 overall, 5-1 region) never trailed. The last time the two teams met, it was a defensive battle that Gila Ridge led 13-11 at the half, but would lose 44-30. This time around, the teams scored 24 total points in the first 4 minutes, 38 seconds.

The Kofa trap wasn't as effective in taking the Hawks out of their fast-paced offense. Ehrig made her first three 3-pointers and finished the game 5-for-7 beyond the arc.

“They don't miss their shots in their house,” coach Eric Krepps said. “His girls did a great job of pushing it up the sides. We didn't close off the sides. We were lacking it a little bit on the defensive end.”

The Kings (9-7, 3-2) trailed 32-24 at halftime and got the first points of the second half on a Madison Tracy putback. But Ehrig connected on her fourth 3-pointer to kick off an 18-5 run that put the game out of reach.

“Eight points isn't really that big of a deficit at the half. You still have 16 minutes to play,” Krepps said. “We came out and laid an egg in the third quarter. That's what it comes down to. His kids knock down shots in the third quarter and go up 19.”

Ehrig also had six rebounds and six steals for the Hawks.

“Summer is a pretty impressive kid,” Gila Ridge coach David Schultz said. “She's a funny kid. She's a better person than she is a basketball player. I know that's hard to believe. She's just a good kid to be around. Tonight, you give her open shots she's going to knock them down. She's comfortable in her home gym.”

Vivian Rowland added 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Hawks, while Destiny Dilworth added 10. Jenna McKenna had 10 points, seven steals and six rebounds for the Kings. Emily Crouch also added 10 for Kofa.

Kofa cut the Gila Ridge lead to 50-36 with 5:37 left, but the Hawks scored the last 10 points of the game. Their last bucket of the came with 2:07 left. Ehrig tracked down a loose ball and threw it over her back to keep it from going out of bounds on the baseline. The ball hit the bottom of the backboard and fell into the hands of Rowland, who put it in over two Kofa defenders.

Edward Carifio can be reached at ecarifio@yumasun.com or 539-6882.