Just two days after depositing 56 points against Santa Teresa,
the San Benito offense fell quiet in Friday’s championship at the
Dons Club Holiday Tournament in San Jose, where private powerhouse
Castilleja managed to outlast the Balers en route to a 39-29
victory.
SAN JOSE
Just two days after depositing 56 points against Santa Teresa, the San Benito offense fell quiet in Friday’s championship at the Dons Club Holiday Tournament in San Jose, where private powerhouse Castilleja managed to outlast the Balers en route to a 39-29 victory.
It was the second lowest output this season by the Balers, who previously lost to Westmont 36-27 on Dec. 22 in a game that wasn’t unlike the team’s tournament final against Castilleja, San Benito head coach David Kaplansky said.
The Palo Alto school controlled early leads in Friday’s contest, jumping out to an 11-6 lead after one quarter and a 19-10 lead at halftime. But switching from a zone to a full-court, man-to-man defense in the second half, the Balers began to cut into Castilleja’s cushion and eventually trailed 25-23 at one point in the third quarter.
It was as close as they would come for the remainder of the game, however.
“They seemed to stretch it out after that,” Kaplansky said.
Trailing by two points, San Benito forced a turnover down the sideline but couldn’t control the loose ball. Castilleja instead then scooped up the basketball and threw a pass down the court for an easy basket and a four-point lead.
“I thought that was a big part of the game,” Kaplansky said. “We could have got that turnover, but we couldn’t capitalize on big possessions.
“We played good defense all night … We had great spacing … just couldn’t capitalize on opportunities.”
The Balers, who had won the Del Mar tournament the last two years in a row, fall to 8-4 overall on the season.
Both Nicole Rianda and Kelsey Robledo deposited 10 points apiece for San Benito, which trailed Castilleja 29-23 entering the fourth quarter but were outscored by a 10-6 margin in the final stanza.
The Division V power was led by Natasha von Kaeppler, who scored a game-high 23 points on Friday.
“We knew she was gonna score points. We just tried to limit the other players,” Kaplansky said of von Kaeppler. “But we just couldn’t finish.”
San Benito previously defeated Silver Creek 54-17 and Santa Teresa 56-40 to advance to the tournament championship — two teams it defeated in last year’s Central Coast Section Division I Championships — but couldn’t keep the offensive production going for one more game against Castilleja (8-3).
The Balers will now try their hand against the Tri-County Athletic League. San Benito will open its 12-game league slate on Tuesday when it will host North Salinas. The Balers will then visit Gilroy on Thursday.
Both games tip-off at 7 p.m.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SANB 6 4 13 6 29
CAST 11 8 10 10 39
San Benito (29): E. Glasspool 0 0 2-2 2, N. Rianda 5 0 0-0 10, M. Vallejo 1 0 2-2 4, C. Salinas 0 1 0-0 3, M. LePore 0 0 0-1 0, K. Robledo 5 0 0-0 10.
