Historic season highlighted by league and section titles
Although their season ultimately ended with a 50-38 loss to
Berkeley in the state tournament, the members of the San Benito
High girls 2007-2008 basketball team have plenty of reasons to hold
their heads high.
Historic season highlighted by league and section titles
Although their season ultimately ended with a 50-38 loss to Berkeley in the state tournament, the members of the San Benito High girls 2007-2008 basketball team have plenty of reasons to hold their heads high.
For starters, no team in school history – male or female – had achieved so much in a single season. In addition to winning the Tri County Athletic championship, the Baler girls captured the school’s first-ever Division I Central Coast Section title before advancing all the way to the semifinals in the Northern California bracket of the state tournament.
And even in that loss to top-seeded Berkeley High the Balers were able to hold the talented powerhouse school from the East Bay to its third lowest point total of the season.
“We had a great run,” Head Coach David Kaplansky said. “It was great to see the whole team come together and continue to get better as the season went on, and that’s what I was most proud of as a coach.”
Against Berkeley, the Balers fell behind 21-12 and were never able to recover, despite battling hard to the very end.
“They came out and scored those points off us in the first quarter and that really set the tone. They were able to slide past our defense with their athleticism,” Kaplansky said. “To dig ourselves out of a hole early against a team like that was difficult. But when we got going we did a great job. They were up by 11 at the half and that’s about the same margin that they beat us by. They beat us by 12 on their own court, at home, and they won the Nor Cal title on a neutral court by 17. I think that says a lot about our program.”
Despite the loss, the Balers got solid production from Vanessa Farias, the team’s leading scorer. Farias scored 14 points in the losing effort, Kelsey Russell had 10 and Elena Fata had seven to lead the Balers in scoring.
“Of course we wanted to win but I was pleased that we were able to hold such a strong team to 17 points in the second half,” Kaplansky said. “When we walked in the gym and saw all of their Nor Cal championship banners, it was pretty impressive. It was great to see us compete like we did. We felt defeated but not like losers by any means.”
In order to advance to the semifinal game of the state tournament the Balers first had to get past Sacramento’s C K McClatchy High School in the opening round of the tournament, and did so by a 52-45 margin.
In that game Farias led all scorers with 18 points, Victoria Aquilera scored 13 and Bri Romero had 11.
Although the season just ended and five Baler players, including a pair of starters will be lost to graduation, Kaplansky can’t wait to take the floor next season.
“I want to continue to build on what we started,” he said. “I want to keep teaching them and build off of what they already learned – pick up where we left off. It’s going to be hard to duplicate this year but we now know that it is doable.”
