The Napa High varsity girls basketball team kept its streak alive with a 59-34 win over cross-town rival Vintage High School Friday night at Napa’s Messner Gymnasium. The Indians, who improve to 5-0 in Monticello Empire League play (17-0 overall), got the best of the Crushers all evening, with senior Karyn Franco nailing four 3-point baskets. Franco finished the evning as Napa’s leading scorer with 15 points.

Vintage got first grabs at tip-off and Marisa Hatcher went hard inside for the first points of the contest and added two more on a bucket from Jessica Zeller, but the Indians would not be outdone at home. Katie Keilig was fouled and went to the line to get the Indians on the board with 6:34 to go in the first quarter. Keilig hit two free throws making the score 4-2 in favor of the Crushers.

Franco had another offensive strike on a rebound, putting Napa up 5-4. The Indians didn’t look back all night.

With a little over a minute left in the first quarter, Napa began to pull ahead. With back to back buckets from Lindsey Dreher and Nicoletta Geyer, the Indians had a 14-6 lead with a minute to go in the first. Geyer hit another layup to give Napa an eight-point lead going into the second quarter, 16-8.

Napa continued their offensive showing and added a strong defensive presence that proved too much for Vintage, who drops to 2-3 in the MEL (9-7 overall). Vintage’s offensive power came in the form of Hatcher, who finished the evening with 13 points.

“Marisa did an excellent job tonight,” Napa head coach Darci Lewis said. “My hat’s off to her.”

Vintage closed the gap in the second quarter with 13 points bringing them within six at the half, 27-21.

Still, Napa opened up the third quarter with 10 unanswered points and the Crushers shots wouldn’t fall, as they scored their first points of the second half with just 3:37 left to go in the quarter.

The Indians’ pressure defense didn’t leave much for the Crusher offense to work with, as they closed the third quarter trailing 45-27.

Napa had defensive help from Geyer (10 rebounds) and Keilig (nine rebounds) and Nina Pardo, who came off the bench to add fire to the Indian defense.

“Nina was tough on the boards tonight,” Lewis said. “And it was great to have Bonnie (Freeland) ready to go off the bench.”

Lewis was pleased with her team’s overall performance and continued display of chemistry, despite the pressures of a Big Game atmosphere.

“We shot really well from the outside tonight and the defense really stepped it up. We were able to build on our press and all the pieces fell into place,” Lewis said.

JV Girls Basketball

• Vintage 34, Napa 31

The Crushers bested Napa with the majority of the excitement coming in the last two minutes of the game. With Vintage up by one, a Crusher free throw increased their lead to 31-29 with 1:06 left to go. Napa’s Kendall Pelfini tied it up with one basket of her own, making the score 31-31 with just 40 seconds left. In the final 10 seconds, the Crushers sank another free throw and an additional basket to give them the victory.