The San Benito High girls basketball team had only 14 points at halftime in Thursday’s Central Coast Section Division I second-round playoff game against Oak Grove of San Jose.
The good news? The visiting Eagles only had six.
“I think we might have set the game of basketball a bit back in the first half with our shooting,” said Haybalers coach Mitch Burley, whose team prevailed 38-18 despite missing eight layups in the opening two quarters. “We only had 14 points, but we could’ve had 28 with all of the shots we missed. So I just told the girls at halftime to keep doing what you’re doing, and it just worked out where we made more shots in the second half.”
And that’s exactly what happened. The No. 5 seed Balers (19-6) never trailed en route to the victory, and now play No. 4 Silver Creek (14-10) of San Jose in a Saturday quarterfinal at Piedmont Hills High of San Jose at 1 p.m.
The two teams actually scrimmaged each other before the season started, so Burley at least has an idea of the makeup of the Silver Creek squad. He went into Thursday’s game blind, as he was unable to scout Oak Grove’s opening-round game on Tuesday.
It didn’t matter. The Balers had their own version of the Princeton offense going, using several back screens to get players consistently free for uncontested layups. Time and again a San Benito player cut to the basket off a back screen, and the Eagles never made the adjustment.
“It’s a play we put together where I told the girls to do this one back screen,” Burley said. “We just ran a pattern and managed to hit some shots. It was effective.”
As usual, the Balers’ best players, Anjelica Collins and Denise Martinez, led the way. They scored 12 points each, with Collins controlling the game with her ability to dribble the basketball in traffic and set the tempo.
“I think the best thing about Anjelica is she’s willing to handle the ball in big situations,” Burley said. “It seemed like the other girls didn’t want to have the ball, which I told them in a timeout (early in the fourth quarter). We worked on this stuff everyday in practice, and when we get in the game, it seemed like they didn’t want to handle the ball. Anjelica handled the ball, but we need all of our girls to do that.”
Burley made that a point of emphasis knowing Silver Creek would put pressure on every San Benito ball-handler on Saturday. San Benito has been vulnerable at times to teams that apply full-court pressure.
Ultimately, ball pressure is what separates the merely good teams in girls basketball to the elite ones.
“In girls basketball, it’s the pressure that gets people because the ball skill in terms of the passing and dribbling really shows itself,” Burley said. “We could use more of that, but I’m sure other teams want more ball handlers, too.”
San Benito started the second half on a 8-2 run, effectively putting the game away. The burst, which was capped by back-to-back layups from Collins and Martinez, gave the Balers a 22-8 advantage.
Joselyne Gonzalez added six points for the Balers, who used tremendous ball pressure that contributed to Oak Grove’s committing a whopping 35—count ‘em, 35—turnovers.
