A second-half stretch of success was key for Benilde-St. Margaret’s in defending its Class 3A state girls’ basketball crown.

Olivia Olson scored 30 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, Pressley Watkins added 18 points and the Red Knights pulled away to beat rival DeLaSalle 81-58 Saturday night at Williams Arena.

“It’s so surreal to sit here again with another state championship,” said Olson, the lone Red Knights senior. “… I’m just proud to go out with them in such a cool way.”

Aneisha Scott battled foul trouble to lead DeLaSalle (27-4) with 15 points. Madalyn Blaylark added 14 for the Islanders who won 78-65 when the teams met in December, one of seven games Olson missed with a broken hand. It was the last time Benilde-St. Margaret’s (27-5) came up short.

“Everyone has been going after us all season and rightfully so,” said Red Knights coach Tim Ellefsen. “We welcomed the challenge. … Winning is hard and we were ready.”

Scott scored on a jumper and a drive to get DeLaSalle within two early in the second half. She also scored the next Islander points, but they came more than 6 1/2 minutes later. Between those points, it was a 15-0 run for Benilde-St. Margaret’s (27-5), which got much better at attacking the basket. Zahara Bishop scored eight points and Watkins five during the stretch.

“We keep stressing do what we do, do it really well, and when we execute other teams tend to wear down either physically or mentally. We just do what we do, get some balls, some deflections and turned them into layups, hit some timely shots,” Ellefson said.

Kate Kapsner echoed her coach.

“We kept getting fast-break layups and all the steals, it kept giving us more energy, and we could kind of feel them wearing down.”

DeLaSalle coach James Fassett said a problem playing Benilde is defenders can’t just focus on Olson, who’ll play at Michigan next year.

“She makes a lot of people around her better, so you really got to play all five. When you get a little bit behind the eight-ball against Benilde you can get in trouble.”

Benilde-St. Margaret’s shot 53.6% in the second half when it outscored DeLaSalle 37-19. The Islanders were 8 of 25 from the field in the final 18 minutes and committed nine of their 16 turnovers.

Olson had 21 points, including 9 of 11 on free-throw attempts, and Watkins scored nine of her 11 first-half points from deep in leading Benilde-St. Margaret’s to a 44-39 lead at the break.

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