Hollister plays a solid game against TCAL’s toughest team but
the Spirits hang on for the win
Hollister – The Balers played a solid game against the Tri-County Athletic League’s top team in Notre Dame on Friday at San Benito High but in the end, it was the Spirits who hung on to take the 52-44 victory.
“I thought everyone who was on the floor for us tonight played a dynamite game,” said Hollister head coach Tom Dean. “So, I have no problems with the way we played tonight.”
Notre Dame’s Jessica Ross, one of the league’s top scorers with an average of 17.3 points-per-game, got her team off to a hot start with a good looking three-pointer early to put the Spirits up 5-0 before teammate Randy Goodenough scored her second basket of the game from inside the paint to give Notre Dame the 7-0 advantage.
The Balers bounced back before things got out of hand though. Jamie Hall hit San Benito’s first two field goals of the game, both coming off of her crafty up-and-under moves to the rack.
But the dynamic duo of Ross and Goodenough went back to work with four unanswered points to push the lead to 11-5 before Hollister’s Dani Andrewson drained a 15-footer just before time expired in the first to cut the lead to four.
Trisha Lee played a quiet first quarter for the Balers but came out firing in the second, hitting a three-pointer on Hollister’s first possession to pull the Haybalers to within one. But Ross was quick to respond with a three of her own.
The Balers went back to Hall’s inside game with the score at 14-11 and the team’s center responded. Hall, who was played very physically by the Notre Dame defense all night long, tied the game up after pulling down an offensive board and the Balers seemed to be on a roll, the game’s momentum swinging in their favor.
But Ross took the wind out of Hollister’s sails and the rowdiness out of the home crowd when she answered Hall’s game-tying bucket with another three-pointer from the top of the key. On Notre Dame’s ensuing trip down the floor, after stopping the Hollister offense moments earlier, Ross did it with her dribble as she sliced into the lane for a bucket that pushed the Notre Dame lead to 20-14 with a little more than four minutes left in the half.
The sense of urgency to reel the Spirits back in before the game got out of hand started showing not only on the faces of the Hollister players, it showed in their play as well.
The Balers began to slow down the Notre Dame attack with some tough defense before Ashley Patton’s outside jumper brought the team to within five at 21-16. Moments later, Hall got a rare open look and she made the most of it to cut the lead to three.
With time winding down in the second, San Benito made the most of a long possession by swinging the ball around the parameter efficiently before Andrewson, who had to be tired at that point after covering Ross the majority of the half, took a pass on the wing and hit another big shot to close the gap to 22-21 just before halftime.
While the Balers have excelled in the third quarter this season, it was the Spirits who took control of things coming out of the locker room on Friday. Not only did Ross and Goodenough continue to find success against the Hollister defense in the third, forward Britney Plummer started to get going as well. Plummer’s three-point play following a drive to the basket and a foul late in the third quarter put her team ahead by three.
But Hollister’s Patton, fresh off the bench, nailed a three-pointer to tie things up before Courtney Almaguer took a charge from a Notre Dame guard to give Hollister possession. The Balers went to Andrewson on the offensive end and once again, she delivered with a smooth shot from the outside to give San Benito its first lead of the game.
Unfortunately for the Balers, it was not only a short-lived lead, it would be the only time they would lead the rest of the game as Notre Dame started to pull away early in the fourth.
Bright spots for Hollister in the final quarter included more gritty play from Hall down low, another three from Lee as well as a three-point play from Crystina Osborne that brought the score to 40-33.
But Ross and the rest of the Notre Dame squad held on to their lead and slowed the tempo of the game, hanging on for the win and improving their record to 4-0 in league play.
Note: The junior varsity team won a 45-43 thriller over Notre Dame on Friday.
