LOS ALAMOS — Intensity should never be an issue for a district rivalry.

For one half of basketball Tuesday night in Los Alamos' Griffith Gymnasium, it wasn't.

Nursing a two-point halftime lead, the host Lady Hilltoppers turned up their intensity for
34 second-half points.

For more photos from the game visit: http://tinyurl.com/y9mixfd

The Lady Jaguars of Capital, meanwhile, fell flat against their District 2AAAA opponents, scoring just three points in the third quarter and 15 in the half of a
56-35 Los Alamos win.

"We came out in the second half with a lot more intensity," said Lady Hilltoppers senior guard Tyree Richins, who had a game-high 15 points. "The first half was pretty close, but that second half, we were playing real well and that's what we have to do, especially in district games like this."

Los Alamos improves to 13-8 and 3-1 in 2AAAA as Capital falls to 8-8, 1-1.

The first half had the makings of a classic rivalry with both teams trying to land early knockout punches.

An 8-0 Los Alamos run was answered by a 7-0 Capital spurt for a 10-9 Lady Hilltoppers lead at the end of the first quarter.

In the second, Los Alamos went on a 9-0 run, before Capital answered with a 10-0 run to tie the game at 19-19 on a Sarah Romero 3-pointer with 2 minutes, 52 seconds left in the first half.

A Richins 3-pointer — she had three in the game — with 25 seconds left in the half put the Lady Hilltoppers up 22-20 at the break.

"I don't know what it means for them, but for us, when you see a half with a bunch of scoring runs like that, it means we were going into long stretches where our girls just weren't getting back on defense," said Tarah Logan, Los Alamos head coach. "We talked about it at the half and they responded well. We hadn't played with much intensity since the
(Jan. 25 in Albuquerque) St. Pius loss and we reminded them that we needed that intensity on both ends of the court and for both halves."

In the second half, the rust for a Capital team playing just its second game in 17 days due to weather postponements began to show.

Even with Los Alamos senior leaders Taylor Ealey and Richins picking up their fourth fouls and riding the bench much of the quarter, the Lady Hilltoppers outscored the Lady Jaguars 9-3 in the third and led 31-23 heading into the fourth.

Richins scored seven points in the final period and the Hilltoppers had one last scoring run left in them, closing the game on 16-3 run in the final 3:46 of the game.

Capital senior Vandora Montoya had a team-high 11 points, followed by nine from fellow senior Keisha Salinas.

"We just don't finish," Capital head coach Ray Henderson said. "We knew what to expect, we just didn't do what we should have done. We just didn't play with intensity and that showed in the second half."

The Lady Jaguars shot just 5 of 17 (29.4 percent) from the free-throw line, including just 2 of 10 in the second half.

Los Alamos had 15 steals in the game, shot 15 of 24 (62.5 percent) from the free-throw line and got quality production from all over its roster.

In addition to Richins' 15 points and three steals, Ealey added 12 points. Senior guard Sarah Worland didn't score, but had a game-high six steals.

Senior post Shelby Courtright had nine points, three steals and a game-high 13 rebounds and junior Tina Radosevic had seven points and six rebounds.

"We had a really good team effort tonight," Logan said. "I'm really happy with this win because of how everyone stepped up and played a part in it. It was the intensity we needed to see from them."

Contact Geoff Grammer at 986-3060 or ggrammer@sfnewmexican.com. Read his blog at grammerschoolblog.com.