CHANDLER, Ariz. — The Hamilton Huskies girls’ basketball team rallied after being down at halftime to come back and finish strong with a 58-53 win over Horizon on Friday.

 

“Just chip away.”

 

That's what Hamilton's Raelin Denning had to say after the comeback victory to improve to 18-8.

 

Hamilton had started off slow and allowed Horizon a 10-0 run in the opening minutes of the game. Horizon finished the first quarter up 15-3.  

 

There seemed to be no answer in the first half for Jacey Carter of Horizon, who had 15 points and made four of five free throws in the first half.

 

However, Hamilton was able to bounce back toward the end of the second and score 14 points, with the help of Nicole Smith, who led the team in the first half with six points to cut Horizon’s lead to eight at halftime.

 

Despite being down 25-17 at the half, Hamilton head coach Trevor Neider knew his team could to improve on both sides of the ball.

 

This wasn’t the first time Neider and his team have been in this spot and his message to his team was just to calm down.

 

“Same situation we had the other night. First quarter we couldn’t make a shot,” said Neider. “The other night we had the same kind of deficit and we just took it one possession at a time and we got hot.”

 

The team did just that, outscoring Horizon 42-28 in the second half; Denning played a big role on offense and defense.

 

The group effort among Denning, Smith, Sam Curry and the rest of the team late in the game got Hamilton the lead at the start of the final quarter, pulling ahead 45-43 until Horizon was forced to take a timeout with a little over five minutes remaining in the game.

 

Sophomore Heavenly Greer battled in the paint to score 10 points in the final quarter to help her team strike back.

 

However, Horizon could not outlast the resilience of Hamilton, as multiple mistakes and fouls lead to free throws and turnovers.  Deshay Martinez and Sophie Bench both hit all of their free-throw attempts in the fourth to help ice a victory for the Huskies at home.

 

“Our defense stepped up, that was a big part of our comeback,” Denning said. “We knew that we just got to pick it up to win.”

 

Horizon coach Chris Young was upset with the loss, however still saw his team fight hard against a team that just fought harder.

 

“There’s always positives to take out,” Young said. “Hamilton is a good team and going into the playoffs it will be good to have that experience.”

 

Both Hamilton (18-8) and Horizon (14-12) are expected to make the postseason.