San Benito plays waiting game before starting CCS playoff
action
The San Benito High School girls’ basketball team is just three
wins away from a Central Coast Section title
– and they haven’t even played a game in the CCS tournament
yet.
San Benito plays waiting game before starting CCS playoff action
The San Benito High School girls’ basketball team is just three wins away from a Central Coast Section title – and they haven’t even played a game in the CCS tournament yet.
By way of their 20-5 overall record and their 11-1 mark in league, the Tri County Athletic League champion Balers were granted playoff game byes in the first two rounds of the Division I championship bracket, and it has left head coach David Kaplansky a little uneasy.
“There are two ways to look at this,” he said. “We can be excited because we are already in the quarterfinals or we can understand that it will be nine days since the last time we played. I’m a little concerned about being rusty and getting off to a slow start.”
Kaplansky went on to say that he is concerned with the way his team has been practicing as of late and wants to make sure that the intensity level is stepped up by game day.
“In the playoffs, you need a complete game,” he said. “You’ve got to play sound basketball for four complete quarters.”
Much of Kaplansky’s concern stems from the fact that the No. 2 seeded Balers fell 51-47 in the season finale at second-place North Salinas, which was the only blemish this season in league. But it left a sour taste in the team’s mouth since they have such a long layoff before having a chance to redeem themselves.
On Saturday, the Balers will face either No. 7 seed Gilroy, No. 10 seed Watsonville or No. 15 seed Salinas at Milpitas High School. The match up and time of the game was determined after The Pinnacle’s press time.
During the regular season the Balers beat both Salinas and Gilroy by a nearly 20-point margin in three of the four combined times that they faced each squad. San Benito didn’t play Watsonville High this year, but Kaplansky did have a chance to scout them once during a preseason tournament.
“Gilroy is a much improved team. They played us down to the wire the last time we played them (40-34, Feb. 2),” Kaplansky said. “They had a great second half against us.”
During the regular season, Watsonville finished 8-2 in league play and was named co-champions of the Monterey Bay League. Watsonville had a 17-7 overall record. Gilroy, on the other hand, finished 6-6 in league and 11-13 overall. Salinas was 3-9 and 10-16, respectively.
Even though the Balers have the potential to oust any of these teams with relative ease, Kaplansky understands that anything can happen in the playoffs.
“Our defensive pressure is what really needs to improve from the last game,” he said. “We gave up two big quarters in that game, something we hadn’t done all season. In the playoffs we’re really going to need to clamp down on defense.”
With that said, Kaplansky is hoping for a low scoring contest against whichever team his squad plays tomorrow.
“We need a low scoring game, and we need to kick down the perimeter shots. That will allow us to take advantage of our post play,” he said. “It’s great that we won league and made the playoffs. Those were huge goals of ours. It shows how hard these girls worked and how much they bought into the system. Now we just need to keep it going.”
