Griffith wins Panther battle

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Updated: March 12, 2012 8:07AM

GRIFFITH — Speedy breakaways, quick motions around the horn, and an all-around high octane offense — typically, this isn’t Griffith girls basketball.

It’s not that the Panthers don’t try to produce, but rather that they focus on maintaining one of the area’s most stifling defensive units. But then came the matchup with defending champion Roosevelt in the nightcap of the 3A sectional semifinals on Friday night. This time, Griffith quickly racked up the points in a 52-29 rout.

Just as lopsided was the first game of the night, as Hammond defeated Clark 59-30.

Griffith’s calm and collected defense was at work again, but halting the run-and-gun play of Roosevelt required some more zone penetration. Also factoring in was that this is Griffith’s first year in Sectional 17 after being realigned from Sectional 18, where it won three consecutive sectionals.

But after a week to prepare, the adaptation process quickly yielded results. Griffith (17-6) opened the game on an 11-0 run and, by the end of the third quarter, led 48-14. To go along with some crafty breakaways, Griffith was also strong from afar (finishing 8-of-12 from 3-point range).

Brooke Brinkley led the charge with 17 points and five of the treys.

“We knew that we had to come in here with a chip on our shoulder and we knew that we had the confidence and the skills to do that,” she said.

Roosevelt (11-7) was led by 21 from senior Kelly Moten.

While Hammond’s (8-14) Dezier Jordan knew she could score, as evidenced by a game-high 16 points, she pointed to equal team distribution in the victory over Clark (1-20). The senior also put up 10 rebounds and six steals in leading Hammond to its first championship game appearance since 2009.

“The group of girls that is in their, it’s our first time,” she said. “So we’re going to have a lot of energy (at 7:30 p.m. today).”