San Benito returned to the court Tuesday and bested Seaside
44-27
SEASIDE
Megan Halstead scored a team-high 10 points and lead 11 different scorers for San Benito Tuesday as the Lady ‘Balers won their season opener 44-27 at Seaside.
Vanessa Farias had seven points and Nicole Rianda added six for San Benito.
The story of the game was perhaps the Lady ‘Balers defense, though, as San Benito limited Seaside to single-digit totals through the first three quarters. Not until the fourth did Seaside hit double digits in a single quarter, but by that time the game was out of reach.
“Our defense was great tonight,” head coach David Kaplansky said. “We were dynamite … We’re looking to make it more full-court this year, and I was satisfied with the effort for the first game.”
San Benito, which is coming off its greatest season in school history after it went 24-6 last year and won the Central Coast Section championship, took a 19-11 halftime lead against Seaside and opened a 35-17 cushion after three full quarters.
“Megan Halstead played great. Her toughness really sparked us getting buckets underneath the basket,” Kaplansky said. “We just kind of played off her in the first quarter.
“And we came out blazing in the third quarter.”
The Lady ‘Balers outscored Seaside 16-6 in the third quarter.
San Benito (1-0) will have their home opener on Tuesday when King City visits Mattson Gym at 7 p.m.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SB 11 8 16 9 44
SS 5 6 6 10 27
SB (44) – Perreira 1 0 0 2, Glasspool 1 1 0 5, Farias 2 1 0 7, Russell 1 0 0 2, Casalegno 0 1 0 3, A. Rianda 1 0 1 3, N. Rianda 3 0 0 6, Halstead 4 0 2 10, Ademek 1 0 0 2, Guerrero 1 0 0 2, Aguilera 1 0 0 2.
JV Note:
The San Benito junior varsity team started their season on the right foot as well when they crushed host Seaside 72-18 on Tuesday behind 27 points from Cyrena Salinas.
Jackie Echaorre and Jessica Steigelman each added 10 points apiece for the Lady ‘Balers, which improve to 1-0 on the year.
Kim Warner had five blocks in the game as well.
“It’s gonna be a great season for them,” head coach Karen Fortino said. “I’m looking forward to a very good JV team this year.”
In a recent scrimmage, San Benito downed Santa Cruz 52-28 behind 14 points from Warner and seven points from Michelle Fortino.
The Lady ‘Balers will have their home opener on Tuesday when King City visits Mattson Gym in Hollister. Tip-off is at 5:30 p.m.
