A strong second and third quarter by the Balers Saturday was
bookended by a slow start in the first and a late rally by El
Camino Fundamental, which jumped out to a 10-point lead to open the
game and held on for a 10-point win in the tournament championship
of the Wildcatz Invitational.
WATSONVILLE
Playing its third game in as many days may have caught up to the San Benito girls basketball team.
A strong second and third quarter by the Balers Saturday was bookended by a slow start in the first and a late rally by El Camino Fundamental, which jumped out to a 10-point lead to open the game and held on for a 10-point win in the tournament championship of the Wildcatz Invitational.
El Camino (6-0) controlled a 16-6 lead after the first quarter and went on to win, 53-43. But the Balers did erase their entire first-quarter deficit and entered the final stanza with a 39-34 cushion before the Sacramento high school’s pressure broke the Balers down.
“Fatigue killed us. They wore us down,” said San Benito head coach David Kaplansky, whose team could not hold off El Camino late, and was outscored 17-4 in the fourth quarter.
“The combination of playing a tough Carmel team (on Friday), we just wore down,” Kaplansky added. “But I thought we played a great game tonight. The kids played so hard and I was real proud of them.”
It was San Benito’s third game in as many days. The Balers had defeated Christopher High 62-24 and Carmel 45-36 on Thursday and Friday, respectively, prior to Saturday’s championship against El Camino.
Last year, San Benito defeated the Sacramento high school 46-42 to claim the Watsonville tournament, the first of three straight tournament championships the Balers won last season.
Saturday’s rematch didn’t pan out in San Benito’s favor like it did a year ago. But Kaplansky was pleased with his team’s resiliency after falling behind 10 points early.
“Just adapting to their pressure,” Kaplansky said of the opening period. “They have some really good athletes. But we really calmed down and the kids did a good job of finding the open areas and we really broke out in the second quarter.”
San Benito outscored El Camino 17-9 in the second quarter, and trailed El Camino by only two points at the break.
“We tightened up the defense and got some confidence,” Kaplansky said. “It could have been ugly, but the kids dug in and made it a great game.”
The lead was San Benito’s in the third quarter, when the Balers again outscored El Camino 16-9 and took a five-point lead to the fourth. But the pressure-defense El Camino employed finally caught up to the Balers.
“We turned the ball over too much and became lethargic, and they got a lot of easy baskets off pressure,” Kaplansky said. “But it was nice to see the kids be resilient and play through the bad start.”
Nicole Rianda led the Balers with 10 points, Erin Glasspool added eight, and Ellie Burley had seven for San Benito, which falls to 4-1 on the season.
Glasspool and Rianda were also both named to the Wildcatz Invitational all-tournament team.
Meanwhile, Cyrena Salinas, Mari Vallejo and Kelsey Robledo each chimed in with six points apiece.
San Benito will kickoff its next tournament on Thursday when it will square off against Aptos at the Alisal Winter Jam. Tip-off is 5 p.m.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SANB 6 17 16 4 43
ELCM 16 9 9 17 53
San Benito (43):E. Glasspool 3 0 2-2 8, C. Salinas 1 1 1-2 6, M. Vallejo 3 0 0-0 6, E. Burley 3 0 1-2 7, K. Robledo 2 0 2-2 6, N. Rianda 4 0 2-2 10.
