Senior Farias key to Baler offense
The news even came as a shock to Vanessa Farias.
Through 96 games at the varsity level stretched over nearly four
complete seasons, the senior guard for the San Benito High girls’
basketball team has compiled 1,264 points.
Senior Farias key to Baler offense
The news even came as a shock to Vanessa Farias.
Through 96 games at the varsity level stretched over nearly four complete seasons, the senior guard for the San Benito High girls’ basketball team has compiled 1,264 points.
Leading the Balers in scoring during each of her four seasons, Farias eclipsed the 1,000 point mark on Dec. 2, 2008, when she dropped 23 points on King City.
“Wow, I didn’t know that,” Farias said on Tuesday night after practice. “I had no idea. Honestly, it wasn’t even going through my mind.”
Certainly a rare feat, scoring more than 1,000 points in any high school basketball career usually only comes to those who are strong enough to play at the varsity level all four years, or at the very least deliver three solid seasons of offensive production.
But in Farias’ case it was perhaps a little of both. Not only has she been a varsity starter since her freshman season, but the senior guard has led San Benito in scoring in each of her four years, averaging 9.64 points her first year, 13.09 her sophomore season, 14.40 last year and, through 18 games this season, 16.11 points per game.
Farias has averaged 13.16 points per game over her four seasons at San Benito High School.
“What do we call that, the century (mark), no,” San Benito head coach David Kaplansky asked. “What’s the basketball terminology?”
Maybe the millennium mark.
“I think anytime you score 1,000 points, that’s a milestone in high school basketball,” Kaplansky added. “It really shows the consistency she’s had for those four years.”
Able to either step back from long distance and drill a 3, use her quick first step and penetrate in to the paint, or even draw the foul and take her chances from the free throw line, Farias has developed an all-around offensive game that’s tough to stop.
And her speed, coupled with her strong ball-handling skills, have allowed the offensive threat to simply flourish within San Benito’s up-and-down system.
Over her four seasons at SBHS, Farias has led the team in both 3-pointers and free throws during two of her seasons. In the other two – her sophomore and junior years – Farias either led or was second on the team in both those categories.
“It’s her 3-point shot,” said Kaplansky when asked what sets Farias apart. “It allows teams to come out and guard her and that opens up penetration gaps, that opens up her mid-range game.
“Just recently, she’s developed that step-back shot the last couple of games, which has been very impressive. As long as she keeps adding some moves off the dribble, I think her biggest asset will always be her perimeter shot because that gives her opportunities to find other ways to get to the basket when the defense has to come so far out.”
Before high school was even on Farias’ radar, though, she developed her game early on in the front yard of her home, playing basketball with her father, Orlando.
“Ever since I was little, we’ve been out in the front. Passing me the ball, shooting. Passing me the ball, shooting,” Farias said. “He’s always telling me, ‘Take your shots, take shots. Got to be repetitive. Got to be consistent.'”
After watching the movie “Space Jam,” which starred, among others, Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny, Farias became attracted to the game, the players, the behind-the-back passes. Even dribbling interested Farias, then just 5 years old.
Watching her father play city league games in Watsonville simply piqued her appeal in the game.
“They just put me in a rec league and I ended up liking it. My dad kind of saw something and worked with me at that,” Farias said. “I did T-ball and had a baseball year and softball and soccer. But basketball was the one.”
Farias later played for the Watsonville Flames and the West Valley Basketball Club in San Jose, and has also been under the tutelage of Kaplansky the last two years.
“The last two years I’ve coached her, what I’ve seen more in the offensive game is her passing,” Kaplansky said. “I mean, here we are talking about total points, but her passing has got so much better … Her passing has improved so much, on top of the scoring, and she’s been able to get the other kids involved.
“Some games hot. Some games cold. But for the majority she’s been consistent. Our team plays best when she’s scoring.”
Senior teammate Megan Halstead, who’s played with Farias since the eighth grade at Rancho San Justo – when the girls’ basketball team went undefeated, Halstead said – is currently second on the team in scoring this year with 10.39 points per game.
“It’s really a good time to play with her. It’s fun,” Halstead said. “She’s really good about seeing open people … She’s not going by herself. She distributes the ball evenly and she helps everyone out.”
Despite her success, Farias remains a three-sport athlete at the high school, competing in cross country in the fall and track in the spring. And she says she’ll continue that this year as well.
“I just do it to stay in shape for basketball. So I do all the running events,” Farias said. “In track and in cross country, I run the three-mile for stamina to keep me going throughout the whole game.
“But it all has to come back to basketball.”
