San Benito is dominant in first and third quarters, beats
Trojans 52-38
Hollister – One bad quarter was hardly enough to put a dent in the performance Wednesday by the San Benito girls basketball team.
The Haybalers dominated the first quarter, were nearly equally dominated in the second but rebounded in the third to earn a convincing 52-38 Tri-County Athletic League victory over visiting Alisal.
“We had to stick to our game plan. We got out of it (in the second period),” junior guard Elena Fata said. “We knew we could take it to them because we did in the first quarter.”
San Benito (5-11, 2-3 TCAL) made it look as if it would make quick work of the Trojans. Fata scored 11 of her game-high 19 points as the ‘Balers jumped to a 19-5 after lead eight minutes.
But the Trojans (6-9, 0-4 TCAL) made their move in the second quarter. They started the period with a 13-2 run and their 15-6 advantage in the quarter trimmed the San Benito lead to five.
So at halftime, ‘Balers coach Al Rowe made some defensive adjustments to prevent Alisal from scoring inside and it worked.
San Benito outscored the Trojans 16-2 and outrebounded them 13-6 in the period to regain control.
“We needed to close the door, cut off the baseline,” Rowe said. “We made a few adjustments and shut them down.”
Alisal hoped to start the fourth quarter the way it did in the second. The Trojans scored seven quick points and Rowe immediately went back to his starting lineup, and the ‘Balers picked up the intensity and had a 12-9 scoring advantage the rest of the way.
After losing each of its first three games in TCAL play by two points, San Benito has now won two in a row – backing up last week’s 50-41 win over Alvarez with this solid performance.
The ‘Balers know this is crunch time and they need to keep playing well if they want to keep the season going in a positive direction and get into the Central Coast Section playoffs.
“This is confidence,” Fata said. “We need to win out if we can to get to CCS. We need to keep rolling.”
San Benito sophomore center Megan Halstead provided a solid interior presence. She poured in 10 points while grabbing 12 rebounds.
Sophomore guard Vanessa Farias had another strong shooting night with 16 points and added five assists. She converted both of her free-throw attempts and has now hit 30 of 35 attempts during league play.
Kristal Gutteriez paced Alisal with 15 points and eight rebounds. Bryanna Martinez chipped in with 12 points.
Alisal 5 15 2 16 – 38
San Benito 19 6 16 12 – 52
Alisal (38) – Martinez 5 0-4 12, Valdes 1 1-2 4, Salvador 1 0-0 2, Zavala 1 0-0 2, Bernal 1 1-2 3, Gutteriez 7 1-1 15. Totals – 16 3-9 38.
San Benito (52) – Fata 9 0-2 19, Farias 7 2-2 16, Russel 1 0-0 2, Casalegno 3 0-0 6, Halstead 5 0-0 10. Totals – 25 2-4 52.
3-point goals – Alisal, Martinez, Valdes, San Benito, Fata.
