Heidelberg’s Asya Tucker, front, fights for a rebound against Najja Beaulieu of Vilseck during a girls basketball game in Heidelberg on Saturday. Vilseck won 50-44. (Michael Abrams / S&S)
Emily Cartwright, stepping up her game to take up some of the slack for ailing all-conference post player Jasmine Mailoto, scored 16 points Saturday to help the visiting Aviano Lady Saints dump the American Overseas School of Rome Lady Falcons and claim DODDS-Europe’s Region IV crown.
AOSR, which had pulled within one game of Aviano in the league standings after a 44-40 victory Friday night, fell behind 12-2 after one period and 27-11 at halftime Saturday. Mailoto sat out five of the eight quarters played over the weekend, but Emily Stewart’s play in the low post, according to Aviano coach Michael Williams, helped nail down the crown.
Aviano overcame a 20-point game on Saturday from AOSR’s Martina Mannozzi, who scored 27 Friday, to nail down Saturday’s title-clinching victory
Aviano (11-1 overall and Region IV) and AOSR (9-3, 9-3) play next in the European D-II tournament Feb. 24-27 at Mannheim.
In other girls games of note Saturday:
Brussels 43, Menwith Hill 22: At Menwith Hill, the Lady Brigands clinched the Region I small-schools crown behind 19 points from Kathleen Anderson.
Brussels, which got 11 points from Bria Yazzie, finished the regular season 9-2 overall and 7-2 in Region I.
Both Region I losses came in season splits with two of the league’s Division I schools, 48-30 to SHAPE in January and 29-22 at International School of Brussels on Tuesday .
Brussels went 5-0 against the other Region I small schools — Alconbury, Menwith Hill and Rota. Friday’s scheduled game at Menwith Hill was canceled by a traffic jam, which kept the Brigands from arriving until 7 p.m., according to Menwith Hill athletic director Pete Resnick.
Menwith Hill, which played without two starters, will take 6-3, 1-3 records into next weekend’s scheduled games against visiting Alconbury.
Lakenheath 38, AFNORTH 33 (OT): At Lakenheath, the Lady Lancers outscored their guests 6-1 in overtime to close their regular season with a 5-2 record and tie idle SHAPE atop the league’s big-schools standings.
Jade Nixon led Lakenheath’s scoring with 16 points, and Nicole McBride grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Lakenheath (7-5 overall) past AFNORTH (6-5, 4-5), which also finished its regular season.
Vilseck 50, Heielberg 44: At Heidelberg, the Falcons put their hostesses away with a 21-13 fourth-quarter run.
Jamila Harvey scored 13 points to lead Vilseck (3-8 overall, 3-5 in Region III). Teammate Tierra Adams scored 11.
Vilseck’s domination of the rebounding, behind nine each from Najja Beaulieu and Alex Velez, helped overcome 21 points from Rebecca Luna of Heidelberg (5-7, 4-6).
Luna scored 22 points in Heidelberg’s 53-45 victory on Friday.
Bamberg 43, Black Forest Academy 36: At Kandern, Racquel Davis scored 30 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and stole the ball six times to keep the Lady Barons unbeaten in Region III play.
The victory sets up this week’s showdown at unbeaten Patch for the Regional crown.
Bamberg and Patch are 8-0 in league play.