San Benito connects on eight 3-pointers en route to 49-38
victory at Salinas Wednesday
SALINAS
Not even during San Benito’s historic 24-6 run last year did the Lady ‘Balers accomplish anything like this.
But behind 20 points from Vanessa Farias and 13 from Erin Glasspool, San Benito won its 12th straight game Wednesday in a 49-38 victory at Salinas High to improve to 6-0 in the Tri-County Athletic League.
Last year, San Benito rifled off 11 straight games at one point in the season before suffering a loss.
“The girls showed a lot of effort today,” San Benito head coach David Kaplansky said. “A lot of effort goes to the girls and their will (to win).”
Salinas played a 2-3 zone defense on San Benito, and the Lady ‘Balers responded by burying eight 3-pointers, including five from Farias and three more from Glasspool.
But despite winning by 11 points over the Cowboys on Wednesday – San Benito has won each of their last 12 games by double-digit margins – the Lady ‘Balers actually trailed briefly in the third quarter when Salinas opened the second half on a 9-0 run.
“On a night when we weren’t playing our best, we still found a way to get a double-digit win,” Kaplansky said.
San Benito led 11-9 after the first quarter and 20-13 at halftime, but Salinas’ 9-0 spurt in the third supplied them with a narrow 22-20 lead at one point.
The Cowboys actually deposited 17 points in the third quarter – the only quarter in which they scored more than nine points in – and were led by Rochelle Welsh, who contributed eight of her 14 points in the third period alone.
“We were taking bad shots,” Kaplansky said. “We were in a hurry.
“But Kelsey Russell did a great job on [Welsh]. Two of her points came at the buzzer and she had zero 3’s. We tried to focus on that, keeping her away from the perimeter. We really hounded her hard today, forcing her to get her baskets inside instead of from the 3.”
Salinas’ lead was short lived, however, as San Benito reclaimed the lead going into the fourth by 35-30 margin.
“Erin Glasspool did a good job knocking open shots when we needed them,” Kaplansky said. “Her scoring was definitely a big reason why we won this game.”
Welsh’s teammate, Hannah Larick, scored 12 points in the loss, which places Salinas at 3-3 in the TCAL, 13-8 overall.
San Benito’s Lauren Ademek contributed six points for the Lady ‘Balers.
San Benito will look to make it lucky No. 13 on Friday at home when Everett Alvarez visits at 7 p.m.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SAN 11 9 15 14 49
SAL 9 4 17 8 38
San Benito (49) – E. Glasspool 2 3 0-0 13, V. Farias 1 5 3-4 20, K. Russell 2 0 0-0 4, M. Halstead 2 0 0-0 4, L. Ademek 3 0 0-2 6, J. Guerrero 1 0 0-0 2.
JV NOTE:
Despite beating Salinas twice already this season, the San Benito girls junior varsity basketball team lost to the host Cowboys 42-41 Wednesday in Salinas.
Jackie Echaorre led the Lady ‘Balers with nine points, while both Cyrena Salinas and Kim Warner each contributed eight points apiece.
San Benito is now 4-2 in the Tri-County Athletic League, 14-3 overall.
“They’ve greatly improved. They have a very good team approach to it and they played great,” San Benito head coach Karen Fortino said.
Although the Lady ‘Balers came out with a 12-9 lead in the first quarter, Salinas took control in the second and third quarters, and held a 24-20 lead at halftime and a 34-28 lead through three.
San Benito will get another chance at the Cowboys on Feb. 20 in the season finale.
“There are a couple of things we need to work on before we play Salinas again,” Fortino said. “A little more ball movement. A little more patience on offense. We have a lot of offensive plays and we execute our plays very well when we run them.
“But we got into a little bit of a hurry-up mode tonight and kind of let Salinas take the pace of the game. We need to understand that there are times to slow it down and run our offense and times to run the fast break.”
San Benito’s Michelle Fortino and Amanda Byron each had six points on Wednesday.
The Lady ‘Balers will host Everett Alvarez Friday at Hollister’s Mattson Gym. Tip-off is at 5:30 p.m.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SAN 12 8 8 13 41
SAL 9 15 10 8 42
