Staley’s effort not enough in 40-20 loss
San Juan Bautista – A dominant defensive effort in the middle by Anzar’s Jessica Staley wasn’t enough to help the Hawks overcome the trapping defense of Sobrato in a 40-20 loss in non-league girls basketball action Monday.
Staley blocked an incredible 16 shots and grabbed 15 rebounds, but the Bulldogs utilized an aggressive half-court trap to limit Anzar to three second-half points to turn the game into a rout.
“It was killing us,” Hawks coach Paul Lerma said of Sobrato’s half-court trap.
Early on, the game had signs of being a close one with the Bulldogs holding a 7-6 lead midway through the first quarter. Sobrato then scored six of the final eight points to take a 13-8 lead entering the second period.
Rachel Baker, who had 10 points in the first half and paced Anzar with 11 on the night, scored on a putback on one of her nine rebounds to make it 17-14 and a late free throw by Staley closed the half with the Hawks trailing 20-17.
In the third quarter, the Bulldogs picked up the pressure. The Hawks fell behind 26-17 before Staley, who had three points, drove in for a layup for Anzar’s only points of the quarter.
Baker hit a free throw midway through the fourth quarter for the only points of the final eight minutes and Sobrato dominated the fourth with a 12-1 scoring advantage to put the game away.
“Defensively, we work on trapping a lot,” Bulldogs coach Rodney Tabares said. “Our full court pressure wasn’t working so we were waiting until they set up and did our half court trap.”
Anzar struggled with turnovers throughout the game, particularly once Sobrato began applying pressure.
“We were missing one of our starting guards,” Lerma said. “Two guards had to step up for us and they did good for us.”
Lerma said the team will be looking to get back to some basics to prepare itself to handle tough, trapping defenses.
“We need to work on those little things,” he said. “We need to realize what mistakes were made.”
Freshman Melissa Cachopo paced the Bulldogs with 11 points. Sophomore Laura Billos added seven points and seven rebounds.
Sobrato 13 7 8 12 – 40
Anzar 8 9 2 1 – 20
Sobrato (fg fta-ftm tp) – K. Kunze 1 0-0 2, S. Kunze 1 0-0 2, Cachopo 4 2-4 11, Santiago 1 0-2 2, Dominguez 2 0-0 5, Bradley 4 1-2 9, Billos 3 1-2 7, Balo 1 0-0 2. Totals – 17 4-10 40.
Anzar – Fujita 1 0-1 2, Baker 5 1-2 11, Keldson 1 0-0 2, Staley 1 1-2 3, Cantu 1 0-0 2. Totals 9 2-5 20.
3-pointers – Cachopo, Dominguez.
