San Benito begins league play on the road against Salinas
Hollister – With wins in two of its past three games, the San Benito girls basketball team is confident heading into the start of Tri-County Athletic League play.
The Haybalers open the league season at Salinas at 7pm today.
San Benito takes the court tonight on the heels of a 44-34 win over North Monterey County, where coach Al Rowe saw his team come together and play a good brand of team basketball.
“They worked more like a team,” Rowe said after the win. “This win’s big. Now we go into the regular season and it gets tougher. We’ve got to pick up that intensity, especially going into regular season.”
Rowe has made some lineup changes recently, including calling up freshman Vanessa Casalegno from the junior varsity team.
“She’s a very good player, very good shooter, not afraid to shoot,” Rowe said. “That’s going to put pressure on (other players) to step up.”
A big part of Tuesday’s preseason finale was the ‘Balers getting more girls in the mix. Nine different players scored, and others, such as junior forward Rachelle Travis had big contributions despite not scoring.
“Her defense and vertical leap is intense,” said Rowe of Travis, who had five rebounds and two emphatic blocked shots. “She’s not really on page with the offense but her defense is tremendous.”
Thus far, San Benito has been led offensively by Vanessa Farias’ 12.5 points per game. But to be successful, the team knows it needs production from several different players.
“If we have one girl (scoring), they’ll put their best defender on her and double her up,” said junior guard Elena Fata, whose 14 points paced the ‘Balers in the win over NMC.
Fata is averaging 8.3 points per game while sophomore center Megan Halstead is scoring at a 9.4 points per game clip.
The young team has just one senior in Morgan O’Laughlin, so Rowe knows if the team can find some success it can be primed to build a future.
“The best thing I see right now is the girls are coming together as a team and that’s what the preseason is all about,” Rowe said.
