Although Carmel jumped out to a 9-0 lead, the San Benito girls
basketball team erased much of the deficit by halftime, then
defended its way in the second half en route to a 45-36 victory on
Friday night in the Wildcatz Invitational in Watsonville.
WATSONVILLE
Although Carmel jumped out to a 9-0 lead, the San Benito girls basketball team erased much of the deficit by halftime, then defended its way in the second half en route to a 45-36 victory on Friday night in the Wildcatz Invitational in Watsonville.
The victory, San Benito’s fourth straight to open this season, advances the Balers to the tournament championship on Saturday, when they will square off against El Camino Fundamental for a second straight year.
Tip-off is 2:30 p.m.
Last season, San Benito defeated Monte Vista Christian and Pajaro Valley in the early rounds before it outlasted the Sacramento high school by a 46-42 margin in the Watsonville tournament championship. It was the first of three straight tournament championships the Balers won last season.
On Friday, a day removed from its 62-24 win against Gilroy’s Christopher High, San Benito squared off against a strong Carmel team, led by Jule Muegge and Sarah Anderson.
And it was Anderson who staked the Padres to an early 9-0 lead. The junior sunk three 3-pointers to open the game, leaving the Balers no choice but to play catch-up for the remainder of the half.
“The whole goal was to not let them go off,” San Benito head coach David Kaplansky said. “They’re two very good swing players and they do a very good job of finishing.”
The Balers exchanged points for the remainder of the first quarter, then quieted Carmel’s attack in the second and outscored the Padres 12-4.
“Once we got in rhythm defensively and we knew where there shots were coming from, we took them away from those areas,” Kaplansky said.
San Benito trailed 19-18 at halftime, but delivered a 16-6 third quarter against Carmel that supplied the Balers with a 34-25 lead entering the fourth quarter.
“I thought we did a great job in the second through fourth quarters,” Kaplansky said.
Nicole Rianda led all scorers with 19 points, while both Erin Glasspool and Cyrena Salinas added seven points apiece.
Meanwhile, after scoring nine points to open the game, the Balers limited Carmel’s Anderson to just six for the remainder of the contest. She finished with 15 points.
Teammate Muegge added 13 points.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
CRML 15 4 6 11 36
SANB 6 12 16 11 45
San Benito (45): E. Glasspool 1 0 5-9 7, C. Salinas 1 1 2-4 7, M. Vallejo 2 0 2-3 6, E. Burley 0 0 0-2 0, K. Robledo 3 0 0-1 6, N. Rianda 6 0 7-10 19.
