For the first half in Salinas last night, the San Benito girls basketball team looked primed to win its second straight Tri-County Athletic League game. Two days after running roughshod over visiting Sobrato, the ‘Balers took a two-point lead into the break.
Unfortunately for San Benito, a disastrous third quarter tabled any discussion of a league winning streak for the moment. Outscored 17-5 in the period, the ‘Balers fell 49-37 to the host Cowboys and dropped to 1-4 in the TCAL.
“It seemed like everything we put up wasn’t going in,” said San Benito head coach Al Rowe, whose team shot 9-of-35 on the night. “The third quarter is what killed us. Each quarter we have to elevate rather than level out or decrease our play.”
After spending the first part of the season trying to get his team to slow its offense down and make better decisions when handling the ball, Rowe was pleased to see the ‘Balers’ turnover woes taper off for the second straight game, but now sees the need to generate more offensive opportunities.
“We were trying to run a more patient-type offense, but we were running too patient this time,” said Rowe. “We need to get more shots up–not be so patient.”
San Benito had game-long troubles with Cowboys post player Carly Haddan, who led all scorers with 19 points and controlled the paint.
“Their offensive rebounds must’ve been double ours,” said Rowe, “and that’s how they got a lot of their points.”
The ‘Balers (7-10) led 22-20 at the half.
Senior Ashley Patton paced the ‘Balers with 10 points, while Ari Romero scored six and grabbed five rebounds. Vanessa Farias, Elena Fata and Jordan Lee all scored five points for San Benito, while Bri Romero and Megan Halstead finished with five and four rebounds, respectively.
The ‘Balers return to action by traveling to Notre Dame on Tuesday.
