Hamilton girls basketball coach Jeff Kain was not lulled to sleep when seeing his Monday, opponent -- Kennedale, Texas -- with just seven players in uniform.

Kain had watched them over the weekend and knew his unbeaten Huskies were in for a battle.

Kain was right as Kennedale use a late third-quarter surge to pave the way to a 62-48 win over the Huskies in the Nike Tournament of Champions  at Chandler High.

"They only have seven, but they don't get rattled and continue to play their game no matter what," Kain said. "We knew they were going to give us a tough game. We needed one. We've had a lot of easy ones so far."

Hamilton (5-1) managed to lead 27-26 at the end of the first half, a half neither team shot well. The game stayed close and was tied for a final time at 35 with 3:15 left in the third quarter. That's when Kennedal ran off the final eight points of the period to take a 43-35 advantage to the final quarter. The balanced scoring that has been the Wildcats' trademark showed again.

Kennedale's starters scored between nine and 14 points. Freshman guard McKinley Bostad, one of two Wildcats to score 14 points, put up all her points in the second half. Bostad scored seven straight points midway through the final quarter to improve a 47-44 lead to 54-44. Teammate Desiree Scott, the lone senior, also had 14.

"They play at a fast pace and we wanted to do that , too," Kain said. "We pressed and trapped. They shot the ball better than we did, especially in the second half."

Hamilton actually made one more field goal than Kennedale did (21 vs. 20). But Kennedale was 20-of-55 from the floor and Hamilton 21-of-73. Kennedale also shot  better from the free-throw line, hitting 19-of-28; Hamilton just 4-of-12.

"We've shot better than this this season," Kain said. "We missed some layups and shots close we've been making. It was one of those games. But it was the kind of game we needed."

Sophomore Kyndall Adams led Hamilton with 18 points and senior guard Erin Curry added nine. Lauren Evans and Chelcee Pullam both finished with eight points each. Both struggled with their shooting on Monday. They combined to make 8-of-30 shots.