Wright nets triple-double

Sage Hill center amasses 33 points, 19 rebounds, 11 steals and seven blocked shots to help Lightning win easily.GARDEN GROVE -- It’s not that Haywood Wright doesn’t know her own strength. But, sometimes, the 6-foot-2 Sage Hill School senior center is reluctant to wield it against overmatched opponents.

When she does, as was the case in the second half of the Lightning’s 69-20 girls’ basketball victory over Hamilton in the first round of pool play at the Garden Grove Tournament Monday, the numbers can be, well, gigantic.

Wright, at least six inches taller than the tallest Bobcat, heeded Coach Jim Perez’s halftime challenge to become more aggressive on her way to 33 points, 19 rebounds, 11 steals and seven blocked shots.

She had 27 points, 15 rebounds, seven steals and four blocks after intermission, to help the Lightning (7-2) outscore Hamilton, 38-6, including 13-0 in the final quarter.

“I have a rule with Haywood that if she isn’t getting the ball, it’s her job to demand it from her teammates,” Sage Hill Coach Jim Perez said. “When I went in at halftime, I told Haywood she needed to talk to her teammates, then I left without saying another word.”

The Yale-bound standout must have conveyed the message.

In the third quarter, she made all eight of her field-goal attempts to help Sage extend a 31-14 halftime advantage to 56-20, heading into the final eight minutes.

In the third quarter, Wright scored with post moves, putbacks, in transition, and from the free-throw line.

Extremely active in the Lightning’s full-court press and half-court trapping defenses, she helped prompt the officials to use a running clock with 5:20 remaining in the game.

Wright, who played the entire game, said she was happy to help her team play better in the second half.

“Sometimes I am a little hesitant against smaller girls,” Wright said. “I don’t know why. But I know I need to get over that.

“We needed to pick it up and coach told me I needed to be more aggressive [in the second half],” Wright said. We just played badly in the first half.”

Perez also said Hamiton, which lost, 56-15, to Century earlier Monday, provided a unique challenge for the Lightnining.

“They are so unorthodox, they took us out of our system,” Perez said. “Everything was open on offense and they weren’t always where teams usually are against our press, so that was difficult, too.”

But if most of the Lightning players took some time to settle in, senior guard Laura Schaefer appeared more than comfortable in the first half. Schaefer, starting in place of injured point guard Kaitlin Tyre (sprained ankle), drilled five of her six three-pointers before halftime. She was 5 of 8 from the field before the break and was active defensively.

“[Schaefer] is our most improved player this year,” Perez said. “If she keeps playing the way she did today, it’s going to make it tough to keep her out of the lineup.”

Rebecca Hembarsky added nine points and four rebounds, while Katie McKeon had seven points for the Lightning.

Tierney Danner had six rebounds for the winners, who helped Hamilton (6-6) produce 29 turnovers.

Garden Grove Tournament

Pool play

Sage Hill 69,

Hamilton 20

Score by Quarters