Beckler Rallies Alemany Past Bishop Amat, 60-52

Kate Beckler scored 16 of her 23 points in the second quarter to help Alemany High rally from a 14-point deficit and upset Bishop Amat, 60-52, in a nonleague girls’ basketball game Saturday night at L.A. Baptist High.

Beckler’s second-quarter outburst came after starters Karina Siam and Julie Mullins sat out the first quarter for being late to a team shootaround in the morning.

Bishop Amat (20-3), top-ranked in the Southern Section Division II-A, jumped to a 23-9 advantage after one quarter. Leading scorer Allison Box hit four three-point baskets in the first period.

With Beckler leading the way, the Indians (15-7), rated third in Division III-AA and ninth in The Times’ regional poll, outscored the Lancers, 21-8, in the second quarter to pull within 31-30 at halftime.

The Indians, who last week took a tough nonleague loss to Ayala, the third-ranked team in Division I-AA, went ahead for good in the third quarter and led by as many as eight points.

Bishop Amat cut that advantage to four points at 51-47 with three minutes left, but Alemany clinched the win by shutting down Box and 6-foot-4 Lancer center Shannon Wosman and hitting their free throws.

Mullins limited Box to four points after her big first quarter, and Wosman, the Lancers’ second-leading scorer, was held to eight points by Anna Karas.

Alemany made eight of 12 free throws in the last quarter.

In other girls’ games:

Ventura 84, Nordhoff 31--Julie Essary had 16 points and three steals for the host Cougars in a nonleague game.

Reserve forward Estelle Diaz had 15 points and seven rebounds for Ventura (17-9), ranked fifth in the region by The Times. Rene Jimenez added 12 points on four three-point baskets.

Christen Roper scored 12 for the Rangers (9-14).

Simi Valley 46, Royal 34--Jamie Sturdivant scored six of her 10 points in the fourth quarter as the Pioneers (18-6, 7-3) pulled away in the Marmonte League game between the cross-town rivals at Royal.

Elise Metcalf had 10 and Annmarie Turpin finished with nine for Simi Valley.

Cornerstone Christian 42, Dunn 24--Katina Bartolone had 16 points and 22 rebounds for host Cornerstone Christian (6-13, 1-7), in the Condor League game.

Karina Lewandowski led Dunn with 22 points.

L.A. Lutheran 42, South Bay Lutheran 23--Coree Bardoner had 13 points and 12 rebounds and Mandy Hirata added 12 for the Lions (6-12, 2-8) in a Heritage League game.

BOYS

Alemany 53, Loyola 48--Richard Nelson had 16 points and 10 rebounds and Devin Montgomery had 15 points for Alemany (16-6, 9-2) in a Mission League game at L.A. Baptist.

Nelson hit two three-pointers in the third quarter and Montgomery had seven points in the fourth quarter for Alemany, which won its fifth consecutive game.

Valley Torah 71, Southwestern Academy 66--Edward Gerov scored 13 points in the first quarter and finished with 33 as the host Wolfpack (17-2, 10-0) clinched their second consecutive Valley League title.

Donny Simkin had eight points and 14 rebounds for Valley Torah.