A surprisingly sparse but lively crowd at Smith Robinson Gym on Tuesday night were treated to some sharply played basketball by the NCS Div. 5 semifinal match that saw the Healdsburg Greyhounds host the Gateway Gators from San Francisco.
The “Lady Hounds,” who saw a meh regular Redwood League season (4-6) end with a lackluster 51-26 loss to St. Vincent on Feb. 6, seemed like a different team from the outset. Seniors Claire Berry and Amelia Wickersham scored five points in the first 40 seconds of the game, and while Gateway kept the game close for the most part it was the Greyhounds game to lose. And they didn’t.
With sharp ball handling and timely passes, the 2026 Hounds kept the visiting Gators off-balance for much of the game. As is often the case, the team with the hot hand, where shots turn into points, dominated the action.
Although Gateway did manage to tie the game by the end of the first period and take a brief Q-2 lead, Berry and Wickersham along with sophomore Amber Dhiman scored steadily to give Healdsburg the lead at the half, and with their 18 points in the third quarter the Hounds built up a 42-36 lead that gave little time for the Gators to respond. Though senior Meher Dhiman only scored 4 points, all were on free throws—including two in the final minute of play that gave the Greyhounds an unassailable margin.
Contributing to the 54-45 final score were six three-pointers, four from Wickersham and two from Amber Dhiman. The senior Wickersham led scoring with 14, with sophomore Mia Halvorsen bringing new energy to the game in the second half with 11 points in all.
Leading the Gateway charge was Mia Fuller, totaling 19 points with 9 of them from beyond the arc. Sophomore Dallas Davis was second on the team with 11 points, but it wasn’t enough to counter the solid performance by the Hounds.
“We had so many girls step up and make big plays tonight. We had big shots, big steals, big rebounds, big assists,” said first-year coach Cassidy Jourdan afterward. “It really is a team game and we’re watching everyone blossom in different roles at different times to make it happen.”
The momentum that the Lady Hounds have shown in the playoffs is welcome, and it comes at the right time.
Saturday night at 7pm, the NCS Div. 5 championship series reaches a climax at Cardinal Newman High, against San Anselmo’s San Domenico. The Panthers were seeded #6 coming into the series, and the Greyhounds fourth. Ironically neither team had a winning regular season – the Greyhounds struggled in a 13-17 season and the Panthers were 12-13.
But that’s all in the past; the future promises an exciting playoff game Saturday night for the NCS division 5 pennant.
