Sinclair scores 30 in Bartlett's win over Larkin

It's really nice to have options in life.

Chicken or fish? Shower or bath? SUV or sports car? Drive or 3-pointer?

It's even better when you can actually have both, and Thursday night in Bartlett's second tilt of the season against Upstate Eight Conference foe Larkin, the Hawks' Lexie Sinclair was hitting on all cylinders.

The sophomore point guard hit an eye-popping 13 of 17 shots from the floor, including 9 of 10 from two-point range - mostly drives to the hoop - and four 3-pointers, en route to a career-high 30 points as the Hawks trounced Larkin for the second time this season, 78-45.

The win was Bartlett's 14th in its last 16 games, dating back to the first meeting with Larkin. In addition to Sinclair, fellow sophomore Justina Hernandez had 14 points and senior Teagan Noesen added 13 for the Hawks (22-4, 14-1).

Larkin (10-15, 5-9) was paced by Ashley Miller's 14 points and another 8 from Aaliyah Dixon.

Sinclair was just eight points shy of the school single-game record of 38 and she may have had a shot at it had she not adjourned to the bench for much of the final quarter with the game safely in hand. Her previous high was 24, which she managed to reach twice last season as a freshman - including, by her recollection, in the season opener.

"I felt really good tonight," Sinclair explained. "I found my rhythm in warmups, and my team did a really great job of finding me during the game. I like to drive and I had lanes, and that really opened me up for the 3s."

Bartlett held the Royals to just 13 points in the first half, including four in the second quarter, as they built leads of 19-9 after eight minutes and 44-13 at halftime.

"This was really a tale of two halves," assessed Bartlett coach Brad Hunt. "I really liked our intensity in the first half, but as much as I liked it in the first I was as disappointed in our second-half intensity, and I think it really just boiled down to complacency. They thought the game was in hand and they relaxed. But we're not that good. We need to play with a purpose, and when we do, we're pretty talented."

To the Royals' credit, they could very easily have folded in the second half, but instead they came out and took it to the Hawks in the third quarter. After falling behind 53-17 with 5:41 left, Larkin commenced a 17-4 run to cut the deficit to 57-34 with two minutes left. Miller led the charge with 8 points in the frame, Dixon chipped in 5, and the Royals were a perfect 6 of 6 from the line.

But Hunt put Sinclair and her fellow starters back in, and just like that the lead was restored to 65-36 with three quarters in the books.