There was no slow start Saturday afternoon for unbeaten St. Mary's. That meant little chance for Hamilton -- or any team this season -- to pull off an upset.

Bringing its patented pressure and trapping defensive game to the floor at Jobing.com Arena, No. 3 seed St. Mary's captured its second consecutive big-school grils basketball championship with a decisive 65-40 victory over No. 12 seed Hamilton. It's the sixth state title for the Lady Knights, who also went back-to-back with spring championships in 1992 and 1993..

St. Mary's completed the season a perfect 30-0, the first girls team in the state since 2004 to go unbeaten. The last girls team to go unbeaten was St. Mary's 2004 35-0 squad. Hamilton, which had to play an extra game since it was not among the top eight seeds, finished the year 27-7.

"Absolutely we made a point of starting faster," St. Mary's coach Curtis Ekmark said. "I was proud of the girs the other night because we didn't lose our composure when we were behind. But I said today, let's not do that. Let's start fast."

"A good five minutes," echoed Ekmark's daughter, Courtney, who scored a game-high 28 points. "We wanted to have a great start, and send our seniors off with a national championship."

St. Mary's, which trailed Dobson by eight early in the first period in Thursday's semifinals and was down after one period, took control from the get-go. In its previous meeting with Hamilton in early December, St. Mary's held a 22-18 lead after one quarter before blowing it open in the middle two periods.

Courtney Ekmark, a sophomore guard, got St. Mary's on the board with the game's first possession, hitting a 3 with 12 seconds gone. Junior Chantel Osahor, who did not start, came off the bench and immediately tallied on a putback. Senior Shilpa Tummala got involved a few seconds later drilling the first of her 4 threes for the day and an 8-0 lead with 3:51 to go in the period. Tummala, who is headed to Harvard in the fall, tallied 17 points in her final game. Osahor finished with six points and 10 rebounds, plus a team-high five assists. 

In the meantime, Hamilton opened the contest going 0-for-7 from the field with three turnovers during the first four minutes. The Huskies finished the first period 2-of-12 with six turnovers and trailed, 20-4.

Hamilton failed to make up any ground in the second period and trailed a bit more at intermission, 38-19. Hamilton finished the first half with 10 turnovers to just two for St. Mary's. Ekmark scored 14 points in the first half and Tummala had eight. Osahor contributed six points and seven rebounds.

Game, set and match. The lead reached as many as 28 in the second half. Hamilton totated 24 turnovers for the game. St. Mary's guards Danielle and Dominique Williams keyed the pressure per normal  with four steals apiece.

"We came out with a little bit of nerves," Hamilton coach Jeff Kain said. "That got to us. I thought we settled in a little and cut the lead down to 13, but they went on another run and the next thing I knew we were down 20. I was proud of our girls. They didn't stop playing."

Kyndall Adams led Hamilton with 16 points and senior Lauren Evans, headed to Virgina Tech in the fall, scored 16 in her final game for the Huskies.

St. Mary's returns four of its top six players next season, losing Tummala and Cortnee Walton to graduation. That again will give D-I opposition something to ponder in the offseason.