Getting out in transition against the Scots, Kelsey Robledo
proved to be an obvious mismatch, while her nine second-half
points, including seven in the third quarter, allowed the Balers to
pull away en route to a seemingly easy 53-31 victory.
HOLLISTER
Kelsey Robledo didn’t necessarily change anything about her game, but maybe the way she practices.
“Just pushing me harder in practice,” said Robledo, moments after she deposited 13 points for the San Benito girls’ basketball team behind a very efficient 5 of 6 performance from the field, 3 of 4 from the line.
“I was just really focused a lot during practice,” she added. “It’s paid off.”
The 6-foot-1 junior post player didn’t contribute the most points for the No. 6 Balers on Thursday night, when they hosted No. 11 Carlmont in the second round of the Central Coast Section Division I Championships. Her 13 points scored wasn’t even a season-high.
But getting out in transition against the Scots, Robledo proved to be an obvious mismatch, while her nine second-half points, including seven in the third quarter, allowed the Balers to pull away en route to a seemingly easy 53-31 victory.
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“We’ve been focusing on her getting to the rim. Tonight, we saw her second season come into play,” San Benito head coach David Kaplansky said of Robledo, whose mismatch in the paint was aided by post Nicole Rianda, who had 16 points on Thursday.
“If we can get a couple of easy baskets early on, it will provide us with some confidence,” Kaplansky added. “This would have been a tough game if we didn’t run.”
Pulling away slightly with a 7-0 run to close out the first half — San Benito led 26-17 at the break — the Balers all but finished off Carlmont early in the third quarter, sparked first by an easy transition bucket from Robledo.
An Anzar transfer, Robledo then extended two consecutive trips down the floor for the Balers when she converted a pair of offensive rebounds into put-back jumpers. An Erin Glasspool 3-pointer some 20 seconds later then pushed San Benito out to a 37-21 lead with 4:30 remaining in the third.
And to think, the Balers led just 19-17 with 2:05 left in the second quarter; Glasspool’s trey culminated an 18-4 run over a five-minute stretch for the home team.
“There were some mismatches, so we were looking to go inside then out,” said guard Cyrena Salinas, who scored a game-high 17 points for the Balers, 13 in the first half alone. “It goes into the paint, then it goes out to see what we can get.”
Although the Balers have been an inside-outside offense for years now, recently the team has switched the roles while keeping the same approach.
The post player Rianda can move away from the basket for a jumper from the shoulder, while Salinas can drive to the hoop to take a higher percentage shot from the painted area.
On Thursday, Robledo’s noticeable push toward transition offense added a different element. After all, it can be difficult to stop a 6-foot-1 forward when she’s on the run.
“Tonight, we looked different. We really got up and down well,” Kaplansky said. “Salinas played well defensively, especially when we went to the zone (defense). Both Cyrena and Kelsey did a nice job of pushing.”
San Benito’s zone defense turned a somewhat close first half into a runaway second. The Balers led by as many as 26 points in the fourth quarter.
Early on, though, Carlmont was getting good looks at the basket, but an unforgiving rim led to its slow start. San Benito controlled a 7-0 lead to open the game, where as the Scots were limited to just two field goals through the first 11 minutes of regulation.
“The indication is, if your shots don’t go in it’s because the team you’re playing is good. And this is a good team,” Carlmont head coach Ron Fontana said. “They’re taller than us, they’re physical. I don’t think we should have lost by 22 points, but we knew it was gonna be a tough game.
“They’re very physical. We don’t have a lot of height. We didn’t have a lot of players — only eight tonight. And it all took its toll on us.”
The Scots (17-9) were coming off a sizable win of their own — a 40-19 victory over No. 14 Fremont (11-14) in Tuesday’s opening round. But shooting just 24 percent (12 of 51) on Thursday, while also committing 15 turnovers, Carlmont never led against San Benito.
“Sometimes we rely on one player. But tonight everyone stepped up and played and did their part,” Robledo said. “The whole team, everyone worked together and everything was cohesive and everyone was picking each other up.”
Kaplansky said the Scots did a good job of switching their defenses, which was “freezing” San Benito at times. But the Balers — Rianda, Salinas and Robledo, especially — didn’t necessarily slow down on the offensive end.
San Benito’s “Big 3” on Thursday combined for 46 of the team’s 53 points.
“We didn’t want this to be our last game,” Salinas said. “We want to keep going.”
Notes: The win advances the No. 6 Balers (17-8) to Saturday’s quarterfinal against No. 3 Gunn (17-5), which has won three of its last four, although its one loss was by six points to top-seeded Palo Alto. Tip-off is 1 p.m. at Hartnell College in Salinas … San Benito shot 38 percent (18 of 48) from the field, 77 percent (14 of 18) from the line, and committed 12 turnovers … Carlmont shot 24 percent (12 of 51) from the field, 75 pecent (6 of 8) from the line, and committed 15 turnovers … In other quarterfinal matchups to take place at Hartnell College on Saturday, No. 10 Evergreen Valley will face No. 2 Gilroy, No. 5 North Salinas will face No. 4 Oak Grove, and No. 9 Santa Teresa will face No. 1 Palo Alto.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
CRMT 8 9 6 8 31
SANB 14 12 14 13 53
Carlmont (31): N. Leist 2-11 1-2 6, N. Kenyon 3-10 0-0 6, C. Belasco 1-8 1-2 3, R. Kaiser 3-5 0-0 6, A. Lazzarotti 2-8 4-4 8, E. Abinader 0-3 0-0 0, A. Corvello 1-6 0-0 0.
Three-point goals: N. Leist 1.
San Benito (53): E. Glasspool 1-12 0-0 3, N. Rianda 6-14 4-5 16, K. Robledo 5-6 3-4 13, C. Salinas 5-8 5-5 17, M. Vallejo 0-2 0-0 0, E. Burley 0-1 0-0 0, J. Echaorre 0-1 0-2 0, T. Fabing 1-1 0-0 2, M. LePore 0-1 2-2 2, K. Sparrer 0-2 0-0 0.
Three-point goals: E. Glasspool 1, C. Salinas 2.
