Palmdale Wears Out Hemet, 69-41

Palmdale High guard Rena Bonde’s three-point shot is a thing of beauty when accurate, nearly soaring into the rafters before sinking noiselessly into the net.

Saturday night, Bonde’s bombs again proved to be a thing of beauty for the Palmdale girls’ basketball team. She sank three of them in the third quarter as the Falcons pulled away from Hemet for a 69-41 Southern Section Division I-A second-round playoff victory.

Bonde’s outside shooting opened up the inside for 6-4 junior center Kristi Rose, who finished with 18 points but struggled early.

With 6-foot-2 Pepperdine signee Angela Darnell shadowing Rose and Hemet’s zone defense collapsing on her in the lane, Rose made only one of seven shots in the first half.

Meanwhile, Hemet (19-8) lofted entry passes to Darnell and 6-2 forward Jennifer Felger for layups and the Bulldogs were within 28-24 at halftime.

But then came the third quarter. Full-court pressure from Palmdale (21-3), coupled with the inside-outside combination of Bonde and Rose, unraveled the Bulldogs in a hurry.

With the score 35-33, Bonde and Rose twice alternated three-pointers and layups after Palmdale steals. Suddenly, the score was 45-33, and Hemet was struggling just to inbound the ball.

“We just didn’t do well with the press tonight,” Hemet Coach Greg Veatch said. “A couple of our players got a little frazzled.”

And they never recovered. By the time Palmdale had relaxed its press, a once-competitive game had turned into a rout.

“Once you hit from the outside, they’ve got to come out to play you,” Corisis said. “Then we can work it inside.”