Vanessa Farias had a game-high 15 points to lead the Lady
‘Balers past Gilroy 40-29 Wednesday
HOLLISTER
Vanessa Farias scored 15, Victoria Aguilera had 10 and the San Benito Lady ‘Balers returned to form Wednesday when they triumphed over league rival Gilroy 40-29 at Mattson Gym in Hollister.
Coming off their first loss in 14 games, the Lady ‘Balers led from start to finish and scored a strong win on the Mustangs, which were sitting just outside of a top-two position in the Tri-County Athletic League.
San Benito had lost to North Salinas 38-29 last Friday, but Wednesday’s win pushes the Lady ‘Balers up to 8-1 in the TCAL along with the Vikings (8-1), which had a bye earlier this week.
North Salinas will visit Gilroy (7-3 TCAL) on Friday, while San Benito travels to Salinas to take on Notre Dame (2-6).
While North Salinas staved off San Benito last Friday with an intense triangle-and-two defense, the Mustangs came out on Wednesday night in a similar defensive set, which plays man-defense on two players and a zone on the remaining three.
“But we did a good job of recognizing it and we found ways to score early,” San Benito head coach David Kaplansky said. “They tried to take away our guards and I think we did a much better job recognizing it, whereas in North Salinas we overdribbled a little bit and got away from what we want to do.”
Jumping out to an 11-5 lead in the first quarter and a 21-14 lead at halftime, San Benito’s offense forced Gilroy away from the triangle-and-two early on.
And although San Benito held a narrow 30-24 lead going to the fourth quarter, Gilroy never made much of a threat in the final period and were held to just a single field goal in the last five minutes of regulation.
But defensively is where the Lady ‘Balers shined, holding the Mustangs to just 29 total points, which ties a season-low for Gilroy.
Lindsey Foster led the Mustangs with nine points, while Chelsea Hill, who averages 13.4 points per game, was limited to just two field goals and seven total points.
“Megan Halstead and Lauren Ademek did a great job defensively,” Kaplansky said. “Defense is key for us in the hunt for a league championship. That’s where we’re being the most consistent.”
San Benito will visit Note Dame Friday at 7 p.m.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
GILR 5 9 10 5 29
SANB 11 10 9 10 40
San Benito (40): E. Glasspool 0 1 0-0 3, V. Farias 3 2 3-3 15, K. Russell 1 0 0-0 2, M. Halstead 1 0 4-4 6, M. Vallejo 1 0 0-0 2, J. Guerrero 1 0 0-0 2, V. Aguilera 5 0 0-0 10.
JV Note:
The San Benito Lady ‘Balers practiced all week for the full-court press. Gilroy instead showed the half-court trap.
Held to single-digit point totals in each of the four quarters, the San Benito girls junior varsity basketball team couldn’t keep pace with visiting Gilroy Wednesday and lost 47-28 at Hollister’s Mattson Gym.
Cyrena Salinas and Michelle Fortino each scored seven points, while Melisah Cortez and Jessica Steigleman had six. Jackie Echaorre had two.
“The one thing we took out of the last time we played them was that they full-court pressed us pretty bad,” San Benito head coach Karen Fortino said. “We were successful breaking it tonight, but we couldn’t break the two-man trap at the half-court.
“That shut us down tonight. We worked on breaking the full-court but not so much on the half-court, and the half-court is what got us.”
San Benito is now 5-4 in the Tri-County Athletic League, 15-5 overall.
The Lady ‘Balers will visit Notre Dame in Salinas on Friday at 5:30 p.m.
“These girls, they fight,” Fortino said. “They didn’t give up and that’s the one thing I appreciate.”
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
GILR 6 15 12 14 47
SANB 7 7 9 5 28
