After allowing six straight points in the second quarter to fall behind 10-4, San Benito needed a spark to avoid watching their postseason hopes dwindle away.
Luckily for the Balers, Taylor Fabing was up to the task.
Scoring five points within three possessions, Fabing helped the Balers go on a second-quarter 16-7 run to pull ahead of Notre Dame in San Benito’s 35-28 victory Thursday.
The win keeps the Balers – now 5-4 in Tri-County Athletic League play and 12-0 overall – two games back of league-leader Salinas. San Benito is now one game back of second-place Notre Dame.
But the game gives San Benito some confidence after a morale-deflating loss to Gilroy on Tuesday.
“It makes us relevant again,” head coach Mitch Burley said. “We are now one of the teams that people will say ‘oh they have a chance now.’ if we were unfortunate to lose today, we would have been out of it.”
Led by a Kelsey Robledo, who scored a game-high 14 points, San Benito used its size to limit second-chance opportunities and force outside shots from the Spirits.
“Her presence inside was huge,” Burley said. “At the end she had two or three chances for rebounds and she got every rebound. Her rebounding was absolutely ginormous.”
The San Benito defense worked wonders for the Balers, as Notre Dame struggled mightily from the outside.
In the fist half – when Notre Dame could only muster 17 points – the Spirits shot only 5-29.
The Balers couldn’t shoot much better, but for three minutes in the second quarter, shots finally starting sinking. The run started with an open 3-point shot from Fabing to end a 6-0 Spirit run.
“Once we started hitting our shots, we just started getting so pumped up I don’t know how to explain it,” said Fabing, who scored seven points.
Once the Balers grabbed the lead, they never relented it.
“It’s just a matter of hitting some shots,” Burley said. “Its’ just that simple. We just don’t hit enough consistently. They (Notre Dame) are in the same boat. Everyone in our league is in the same boat.”
Despite finally hitting some shots, and getting on a run, San Benito never put away the Spirits, who never trailed by more than seven points.
“I told them all year they work hard,” Burley said. “Today we just made a few more shots than they did. You have to get luck sometimes. We just made some plays and that was fun. They didn’t quit after what happened Tuesday.”
When San Benito’s offense slumped again in the second half – the team scored 15 second-half points – its defense stayed strong by allowing only 11 points from Notre Dame.
“We just struggled to put it in the basket,” Spirit head coach Mark Clark said. “And you always have to give the opposing team some credit for stiffing up their defense.”
The game now gives the Balers confidence and reopens the league-champion race, Clark said.
“Everyone can be everybody,” Clark said. “The league is not over. I told our girls before the season that the team that wins this league will have two to four losses. We are still in it … San Benito is still in it. There is a long ways to go.”
San Benito hosts Alisal (5-3, 10-10) at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
The hope is to win the rest of the games and tie for first place,” Fabing said. “We are going to work hard for it.”
