Lady ‘Balers vault into the quarterfinals after winning OT
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When all was said and done, the Haybalers could breathe a sigh of relief. They survived.
Survived the raucous Alisal fans, survived the refs, survived the hard-charging Trojans and, most of all, survived their own fourth-quarter demons.
Leading until the final seconds of regulation, the San Benito girls basketball team fell victim to a late officiating blunder which allowed No. 8 Alisal to pull even at 35 and sent the game into overtime. But the No. 9 ‘Balers recovered in the extra period to deliver the finishing blow to the Trojans and vault into the quarterfinals of the Central Coast Section Division I playoffs on the strength of their 44-39 victory.
“It’s very, very big,” San Benito senior forward Ashley Patton said of her team’s first-round win. “We pulled it out in the end. It just shows how our team never gives up.”
After taking a quick 11-6 lead over the host Trojans and then pushing their advantage to 32-20 with six minutes left in the game, the Haybalers looked primed to blow past Alisal and head into a showdown with No. 1 Menlo-Atherton on Saturday with a ton of momentum. But true to form, San Benito found closing out the win an adventure.
With a gym nearing full capacity as the Alisal boys basketball team was set to follow with its own first-round game, the Trojans suddenly found the offensive rhythm that had eluded them for the first three quarters. Alisal forward Hazel Gapol got hot when her team needed her the most, draining two three-pointers and nine points overall in a 13-4 run that pulled the Trojans within 34-33 with 1:46 left to play.
Meanwhile, the ‘Balers’ offense, which had been so effective in building up the big lead, suddenly stalled. San Benito’s turnover woes re-appeared at the most inopportune time and, given new life behind a roaring crowd, Alisal got the defensive stops it needed to close the gap.
“We needed to calm it down,” ‘Balers head coach Al Rowe said. “There’s a time to be patient and there’s a time to be aggressive. I’ve got a lot of adrenaline (with) these youngsters. They have a hard time slowing it down. They just want to go, go, go.”
San Benito took a 35-33 lead when Vanessa Farias made the first of her two free throws with 18 seconds remaining, and when the ‘Balers stole the ball from Alisal on its next possession, the victory seemed to be secure for the visitors. But that’s when the refs came into play.
After ‘Balers sophomore Elena Fata and senior Ari Romero came up with deflections that resulted in a Trojans’ turnover, Fata took the ball down the left sideline. While absorbing contact from multiple Alisal players as the Trojans’ coaching staff yelled, “Foul her, foul her,” Fata tried to protect the ball as she neared the baseline, but lost control as she fell to the ground.
Inexplicably, the two referees called a foul on San Benito–a ruling that stood up after a lengthy review despite the vehement protests of the ‘Balers. With two seconds remaining, Alisal was awarded two free throws as San Benito was already over the limit.
After trailing the entire contest, the Trojans pulled even at the last possible moment, as Gapol sent the game into overtime by swishing both of her foul shots.
Despite losing their double-digit lead and falling victim to the unfortunate ruling, San Benito’s players showed their coach a maturity well beyond their years as the team huddled up before the extra period.
“You could see it in their faces,” Rowe said. “I saw, ‘no problem, no problem at all.’ I saw so much confidence in the huddle, more than I’ve seen all season long.”
San Benito then took that confidence onto the court in overtime and emerged with a huge victory.
First, Fata stole an Alisal pass and converted her two free throws after she was fouled on her lay-up attempt. Then, after seeing the Trojans take their first lead of the game with 2:18 left, the young ‘Balers answered.
The game-long successful combination of Farias-to-Fata came through when San Benito needed it most. With the shot clock about to expire, Farias found her backcourt mate near the arc on the left side, and Fata proceeded to drain a prayer bank shot that put the ‘Balers in front, 39-38.
Farias put the game away with four consecutive free throws in the waning seconds, sending San Benito into the quarterfinals.
“I was thinking, ‘I’ve gotta make ’em,” said Farias, a freshman who finished the game with eight points, nine assists and three steals. “The crowd’s yelling, but that’s all right. I just had to get in the zone.”
Fata scored a season-high 20 points to lead all scorers. The guard keyed the ‘Balers’ 10-0 run to start the third quarter by taking three straight passes from Farias and converting them into buckets.
“(Coach) told us we needed to come out hard,” Fata said. “He just said run it down their throats.”
“She was hot. She was on fire,” said Rowe of his star sophomore, who sank a number of jump shots from the left baseline. “She couldn’t miss from right there.”
San Benito’s two senior starters, Patton and Romero, both scored eight points to round out the ‘Balers’ attack. Romero finished with seven rebounds and Patton five as San Benito more than held its own in the key. Though they didn’t factor into the scoring column, freshman Megan Halstead, sophomore Ali Sharp and senior Jamie Huston provided the ‘Balers with invaluable contributions, particularly on the defensive end and on the glass.
“They were this game,” Rowe said. “They had good solid games.”
Heading into Saturday’s contest against Menlo-Atherton, Fata spoke of San Benito’s need to play its best to have a chance at upsetting the top seed.
“We’ve got to pick up our game,” Fata said. “We’ve got to eliminate our turnovers. We’ve gotta be smart. That’s how they got back in the game tonight.”
The thrilling conclusion to the playoff opener had Rowe drained afterwards, but the San Benito coach spoke of his relief to survive the emotional contest.
“We took some hard punches doing it, but we got it,” said Rowe. “The fourth quarter again came back to haunt us. (But) we got our first one. One at a time and that’s how we’re going to take it.”
