Balers rally around missing coach, injured player
Hollister – Despite a slow start to Thursday’s non-league matchup against visiting North Monterey County, the San Benito girls’ basketball team had little trouble in defeating the winless Condors, 57-39.
When the teams met last, San Benito won 61-18, but it was a little closer this time around because the Balers were missing their coach and star senior player J.T. Temperino, who was injured after being knocked down from behind while driving toward the basket. Even though she played just the first quarter of the game, she still had eight points before leaving.
“It is always tougher to stay focused at home because of all the distractions,” said assistant Baler coach Al Rowe, who was taking over for Tom Dean – out with the flu. “It was a rough start to the game. We just concentrated on pushing the ball and playing good defense.”
The Balers (9-3) had a solid performance all around with 11 players scoring points. Trisha Lee had 12, and Crystina Osborne had 10.
“We all had our reasons for wanting to do well today,” Osborne said. “For me it was special because it was P.J. Galvan’s birthday (He passed away in a car accident). He always used to come to our games and support us.”
The Haybalers started off a little sluggish but picked up the tempo with a solid defensive effort that led to numerous steals.
San Benito held a 37-29 lead at the half, but it wasn’t until the third quarter that they really started to turn up the pressure, holding the Condors to just one field goal in the entire quarter.
North Monterey County (0-13) tried to build off a 3-pointer that beat the buzzer before halftime, firing from the perimeter in the third quarter. But the Condors couldn’t get anything to fall, and the Balers took advantage by taking the ball the other way for easy baskets.
“We had a lot of people step up for us,” Trisha Lee said. “It was a little bit of jungle ball to start with, but we played better in the second half. Against a team like this, you have to kind of expect it.”
After Monterey’s one basket in the third quarter, San Benito scored 16 unanswered points, extending into the fourth quarter.
With two seconds left in the third quarter, Osbourne made an off-balance basket. Although she missed the free throw, the Balers closed out the quarter with a 20-point advantage at 51-31.
Ariel Romero opened up the fourth quarter with back-to-back baskets. The Balers used a good passing game to keep the pressure on. Early in the game, Dani Andrewson had a steal and had good presence of mind to find Johni Kieswetter below the basket for a layup. Jamie Hall was the beneficiary of several of the passes down low to score eight points.
The Balers had 48 team rebounds in the game, which is slightly above average, Rowe said. Leading the way were Osbourne with 10, Hall with nine and Almaguer with 7. Lee had seven assists, Flores had six, and Andrewson had five.
San Benito will be at Monte Vista Christian on Jan. 11 and at Monterey on Jan. 12.
JV note
The San Benito girls JV basketball team defeated visiting North County 38-30. Bri Romero and Morgan O’Laughlin led the way with 10 points each.
Frosh note
The San Benito freshman girls basketball team won 37-26. Katie O’Brien had 10 points, and Jayme Telles had 6.
