‘Baler girls hoops falls to Seaside in physical affair
Hollister – After a bruising contest against Seaside last night, the San Benito girls basketball team found out just what it’s like to play a fast, physical opponent. Though the Haybalers stubbornly climbed back from two large, first-half deficits, the Spartans prevailed 56-39 with an effective combination of quickness and brawn.
“We just got out of our gameplan,” said San Benito head coach Al Rowe. “We wanted to stretch out the court … but the boards kind of killed us.”
With both teams opening the game at breakneck speed, gunning for fastbreak lay-ups, but forcing risky passes in the open court, turnovers and physical contact were aplenty. By the time ‘Balers senior Ashley Patton and Seaside center Ashley Washington got tangled up fighting for a rebound only to both hit the deck hard just three minutes into the game, both benches knew that bumps and bruises would be as prevalent as points in this contest.
Seaside (6-4) used a 9-0 run and nine quick points from star junior Teresa Dennis to take an 18-12 lead at the end of the first quarter. But the ‘Balers battled right back, led by the grittiness of two of its youngsters.
First, freshman Symone Baker found sophomore Elena Fata open on the right side for a long jumper to bring San Benito within two points of the Spartans. And then the duo struck again to give the ‘Balers the lead.
Taking the ball out on the right sideline, Baker passed to Fata and then stepped in toward the three-point arc. Fata immediately gave the ball back to Baker, who buried a three-pointer to put San Benito up 19-18 early in the second quarter.
“Hollister has so many good shooters from the outside,” said Seaside head coach Jim Rimando. “We knew we would have to do a good job to shut them down.”
The Spartans went on another run to take a 12-point lead with just over a minute to go in the first half as Dennis drove to the hoop with authority and sunk the bulk of her free throws, too. Dennis finished with a game-high 19 points and shot six-of-nine from the charity stripe.
“She’s the go-to person,” said Rimando of Dennis.
San Benito (4-4) again clawed its way back, pulling within 34-29 after freshman Vanessa Farias found Patton for a three-pointer early in the second half. With improved defense on Dennis, the ‘Balers looked primed to take the contest right down to the wire.
But Seaside’s other shooters began to find themselves open and once they started connecting on their shots, the game started sliding away from San Benito.
“We wanted to shut [Dennis] down,” said Rowe. “On defense, we just lost our man a couple of times. There was a lot of physical contact. Some of our youngsters still have to learn how to counter that physical nature.”
Farias led the ‘Balers with 10 points and three steals. Patton scored eight points, including making five-of-eight free throws, and sophomore Bri Romero added four points and a team-high six rebounds.
With five ‘Balers notching at least two steals, Rowe was pleased with his team’s intensity.
“We had a lot of hustle,” said Rowe. “We fought hard ’til the end. It was a valuable learning experience.”
