San Benito improves to 20-4 overall after 50-32 victory at
Alisal
SALINAS
Back-to-back 20-win seasons may have been difficult to imagine two years ago. But after last season’s historic 24-6 run, anything is possible.
The San Benito High girls basketball team took a six-point halftime lead and gradually turned it into an 18-point win on Wednesday. Behind 22 points from Vanessa Farias, 15 of which came from behind the arc, the Lady ‘Balers won their 20th game of the season when they defeated host Alisal 50-32 in Salinas.
The Lady ‘Balers are now 20-4 on the season, 44-10 over the last two years, and 10-1 in the Tri-County Athletic League. San Benito is now just one win away from wrapping up at least a share of the league title with North Salinas.
Perhaps more importantly, though, San Benito could also be just one win away from wrapping up the No. 1 seed in next week’s Central Coast Section Division I playoffs, which would certainly be difficult to imagine two years ago.
The Lady ‘Balers will host Salinas in the regular season finale Friday in Hollister.
“They’re a good team,” San Benito head coach David Kaplansky said of the Cowboys, whom the Lady ‘Balers defeated 49-38 on Jan. 28. “We’ve got to be ready to go Friday and be prepared for the championship game.”
On Wednesday against Alisal (3-8 TCAL, 8-17), though, Kaplansky said the Lady ‘Balers came out with the right energy, but weren’t playing smart defense.
Alisal leading scorer Gaby Pantoja (8.29 ppg) scored five of her 10 points in the first quarter and the Trojans controlled the boards early on with three offensive put-backs.
They trailed San Benito 17-15 after the first period.
“We were scoring, but we weren’t playing really good defense,” Kaplansky said. “Once we identified [Pantoja], we were able to stop her and get into a good rhythm.”
Although the Trojans remained close in the second quarter as well, trailing 25-19 at halftime, it was the second quarter when San Benito began to turn their defense around.
They limited Alisal’s second and third chance opportunities, as well as the backdoor passes that allowed the Trojans to keep pace early on.
“Alisal had a really good first half,” Kaplansky said. “Defensively, it was from the second quarter on. We rotated better and were able to get in transition … we were able to get into a rhythm.”
Despite holding a six-point lead at the break, the Lady ‘Balers outscored Alisal 14-6 in the third quarter en route to a 39-25 fourth-quarter edge.
And Farias’ 3-ball opened up the scoring. It was the fourth time this season the senior guard has dropped as many as five 3-pointers in a single game.
“Vanessa was on from the perimeter and that really opened up the game,” Kaplansky said. “She had a really good game.”
Three other players – Kelsey Russell, Lauren Ademek and Victoria Aguilera – chimed in with six points apiece, while teammate Erin Glasspool had five.
San Benito will look to make it win No. 21 on Friday when Salinas visits Mattson Gym at 7 p.m.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SANB 17 8 14 11 50
ALIS 15 4 6 7 32
San Benito (50): E. Glasspool 0 1 2-2 5, V. Farias 2 5 3-3 22, K. Russell 3 0 0-2 6, N. Rianda 1 0 1-2 3, M. Halstead 1 0 0-0 2, L. Ademek 3 0 0-0 6, V. Aguilera 3 0 0-0 6.
JV Note:
The San Benito girls junior varsity basketball team had so few players on Wednesday night, head coach Karen Fortino said, that post players routinely had to come up and play at the guard position.
Nevertheless, the Lady ‘Balers rallied to defeat host Alisal 33-21 in Salinas behind nine points each from Kim Warner and Jackie Echaorre.
“We played with a short squad, just six players,” Fortino said. “But these girls stepped up and played like a team.”
The Trojans never outscored San Benito during each of the four quarters, and the Lady ‘Balers carried leads of 8-3 after the first period and 16-8 at halftime.
San Benito held a 25-15 lead heading to the fourth.
“These girls were playing positions they weren’t really used to,” Fortino said. “With a short squad these girls came together and ran great defense and we put another win on the board.”
With the win, the Lady ‘Balers are now 7-4 in the Tri-County Athletic League, 17-5 overall.
Cyrena Salinas had seven points in the victory, while Hannah Blake added four.
San Benito will play their final game of the regular season on Friday when they host Salinas at 5:30 p.m.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SANB 8 8 9 8 33
ALIS 3 5 7 6 21
