The only way any Arizona opponent of St. Mary's girls basketball team is going to have a chance at upending the two-time defending Division I champion Lady Knights is to take care of the ball.

Pinnacle, who most believe has the best chance this year at unseating St. Mary's (if anyone really does), tried but failed where dozens of others  have the last four seasons.

St. Mary's capitalized on 19 Pinnacle turnovers in the first half and nearly got all five of its starters in double figures in delivering a 63-43 knockout to the Pioneers to cap a day of hoops at the 10th annual Martin Luther King Basketball Classic at Wells Fargo Arena.

Pinnacle (21-2, 13-1 power-ranking games) stayed close for only a quarter, trailing 14-10 after the opening stanza. St. Mary's (20-1, 13-0 prg) bumped the margin to as many as 12 in the second period and led 30-21 at halftime. Post Chantel Osahor, who finished the game with 12 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists, teamed up with Chloe Johnson for nine points apiece in the first 16 minutes.

Meanwhile sharp-shooting Pinnacle point guard Sydney Wiese, was limited to six points in the opening half (two threes). Wiese got off only four shots as turnovers denied the Pioneers opportunities to get the Oregon State-bound senior more chances. Many of the turnovers came from St. Mary's defensive preessure, but a few too many were via careless passes.  

Wiese (team-high 14 points) hit a three to end the first half that pulled Pinnacle to within single-digits. The Pioneers followed that by making the first two baskets of the third period to creep within 30-26 before St. Mary's went on a 10-0 run to blunt the rally. All 10 of those points were scored by St. Mary's Courtney Ekmark. Ekmark had just four points in the opening half, but finished with a game-high 17. Johnson added 15 points, Dominque Williams (12) and Danielle Williams seven as the Lady Knights' starters did all the scoring.

Pinnacle trailed 51-32 early in the final period and again managed to pare the lead under 10 (52-43). St. Mary's finished up with an 11-0 run. Piinnacle was the last Arizona team to beat St. Mary's back in January of 2011.