Knowing Lamar would try to run with them Friday night, the Elsik girls basketball team went to its bread-and-butter to earn a rematch it’s waited for all year.

The Rams’ clingy defense caused the Redskins havoc in a 5A area playoff game, and Elsik converted several Lamar turnovers into fast-break points in a pivotal second quarter on its way to a 63-46 win at Alief Taylor.

“That’s what we practice day-in and day-out, and after that intensity from the first half led right into the second half,” said Elsik forward Adaora Elonu, who scored a game-high 19 points. “Coach said they’d want to run up and down the floor with us but that’s our game too. … We have our inside-out game. It’s hard to defend us. We have pretty good players both ways.”

Destini Texada scored 11 of her 13 points in the second half for the Rams (25-7), who advance to play 2007 state runner-up Cy-Fair in a regional quarterfinal at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Berry Center.

Trailing 14-13 after the first quarter, Elsik stepped up its defense several notches and cleaned up its offense accordingly to take a 36-26 halftime lead. The vast majority of those points came in transition off steals.

“We were just able to get some good breaks off traps and get the ball and cause a few turnovers,” Rams coach LaShawn Johnson said. “We took them out of what they wanted to do a few times just like they did us. We came out on the top end. Nothing really special. The kids just played hard and executed.”

Unlike Monday night, when Lamar recovered from a stagnant third quarter to win the fourth and upset 19-5A champion Eisenhower, the Redskins never got a chance to get off the mat Friday. Lamar (20-13) outscored Elsik 11-10 in the third quarter but couldn’t get closer than seven points in the second half.

Texada led the charge after halftime, cutting open behind screens and scoring most of her points off putbacks and open layups.

“I think I just calmed down a little bit and started playing with some confidence,” said Texada, a 6-foot junior forward. “They started feeding me the ball and I fed them the ball and it all worked out.”

Melinda Bobmanuel hit two open layups late in the third and early in the fourth to push Elsik’s lead to 50-39.

Krystal Motley scored 18 points and Alex Heaggs added 15 to pace Lamar.

“Lamar executed well,” Johnson said, “but we happened to have a few things fall our way. Motley took us to the hoop pretty much any time we wanted, but we did a good job overall containing the rest of their players.”

Meanwhile, the Rams prepared themselves for a game they’ve waited for most of the season. Cy-Fair defeated Elsik 40-34 on Nov. 19, 2007.

“We really want to see them,” Texada said. “We’re ready.”

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