Anzar battles early with Division IV opponent, but visiting
Bruins pull away with 51-33 win
SAN JUAN BAUTISTA
The Anzar High girls basketball team has lost five of its first six games to open the 2008-09 season, but head coach Aaron Netzel is trying to get his team to look at the bigger picture.
To date, Anzar, a Division V school, has yet to play another school from within their division. Similar to last year, the Hawks play up in the preseason, looking to improve against better competition.
“The prevailing thing is that we’re choosing, we’re choosing to challenge ourselves,” Netzel said. “We’re playing higher division opponents, and getting closer to the intensity of the CCS playoffs.”
Playing up for the sixth straight game Thursday – a stretch that includes such D-IV opponents as Soledad and Monte Vista Christian, as well as D-III opponent Monterey – the Hawks lost 51-33 to Division IV Greenfield in San Juan Bautista. Although some coaches would pick apart an 18-point loss, Netzel highlights the positives and looks optimistically toward the future.
Last year, after Anzar compiled a 2-6 record in the preseason, the Hawks nearly ran the table in the Coastal Athletic League, finishing with an 11-1 record and the league crown.
“We could play smaller schools and not give ourselves a sense of where we’re at,” Netzel said. “But there were definitely spurts (on Thursday) where we were with them.”
The Bruins (4-3) jumped out to a 6-0 lead before Anzar recorded a point, however, and carried a 12-2 lead at one point in the first quarter.
It appeared that Greenfield would cruise away with the game early on when the Hawks began to battle back, forcing six first-quarter turnovers on the Bruins.
Anzar’s Alyssa Rodriguez, who finished with a team-high 15 points, scored 11 of her points in the first half and six in the first quarter. She sparked an 8-0 run for the Hawks midway through the first that brought Anzar back to within a 12-10 deficit.
But continuing with the streaky scoring trend, Greenfield finished the first quarter on a 7-0 run and led 19-10 after eight minutes.
Anzar had difficulty with the Bruins’ full-court press, which they implemented through the first three quarters Thursday, though the difference in the game may have been Greenfield’s offensive rebounding ability and second-chance opportunities. Although they made just eight more shots from the field than Anzar, the Bruins took a whopping 40 more shots on Thursday.
The Hawks delivered strong performances in the second and fourth quarters, though, even outscoring Greenfield 10-8 in the final period.
Rodriguez had eight rebounds, three steals and two blocks to go along with her 15 points, while freshman teammate Kelsey Robledo added eight points on 4 of 6 shooting from the field. Robledo also had seven points and three steals.
Liliana Resendez supplied four steals for Anzar, and Allison Baker made her presence felt in the paint with seven blocks.
The Hawks (1-5) will see their very first Division V opponent on Saturday at home when St. Lawrence visits San Juan Bautista. A private school in Santa Clara, St. Lawrence (3-2) defeated the Hawks last year 47-26 in the Central Coast Section playoffs.
Tip-off is at 12:30 p.m.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
GRF 19 11 13 8 51
ANZ 10 7 6 10 33
Anzar (33) – Johnson 1-3 0-0 2, Rodriguez 6-21 3-5 15, Resendez 2-9 0-0 4, Robledo 4-6 0-4 8, Baker 2-6 0-0 4.
Three-point goals: None.
