Following his team’s 53-31 second-round victory over Carlmont
last Thursday, a game in which the Baler girls jumped out to a 7-0
start before eventually cruising to the 22-point win, San Benito
head coach David Kaplansky spoke of the importance of transition
basketball, getting out to an early lead, and capitalizing on easy
baskets in order to instill confidence for the rest of the game.
But on Saturday against No. 3 Gunn, nothing came easy for San
Benito, while a 10-0 deficit at the start set the tone for a
comeback that never transpired.
SALINAS
Following his team’s 53-31 second-round victory over Carlmont last Thursday, a game in which the Baler girls jumped out to a 7-0 start before eventually cruising to the 22-point win, San Benito head coach David Kaplansky spoke of the importance of transition basketball, getting out to an early lead, and capitalizing on easy baskets in order to instill confidence for the rest of the game.
But on Saturday against No. 3 Gunn, nothing came easy for San Benito, while a 10-0 deficit at the start set the tone for a comeback that never transpired.
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“It’s tough to battle back 10-0 against a team like that,” Kaplansky said. “But for the most part, after that 10-0 run, after we hit that 3-pointer, we played with them.”
Although the No. 6 Balers did manage to cut the deficit to single digits at one point in the second quarter and again in the second half, they were unable to erase the gap completely en route to a 50-26 defeat during Saturday’s quarterfinal round of the Central Coast Section Division I Championships — a game that remained a 10-point difference until Gunn’s pull-away fourth quarter.
An adjustment to the Titans’ impressive zone defense turned the contest into a back-and-forth affair, but San Benito’s slow start eventually led to its undoing.
“Sad” was all San Benito guard Erin Glasspool managed to say after the game, which advances Gunn to Tuesday’s semifinal against No. 2 Gilroy.
Afterward, there were few dry eyes when the Balers exited the visitors locker room at Salinas’ Hartnell College. While the loss ends San Benito’s season at 17-9, it is also the final prep game for five seniors, including Jackie Echaorre, Nicole Rianda, Cyrena Salinas, Mari Vallejo and Glasspool.
“We were a close group, so it’s really hard for it to end,” added Glasspool, who deposited seven points Saturday, including the first and only field goal of the first quarter for the Balers — a 3-pointer with 1:17 remaining.
The disappointment and frustration of the loss, not to mention the sour taste left after losing the final game of the season, wasn’t exclusive to the seniors, though. Junior center Kelsey Robledo still has another year with the program, but still couldn’t help but fight back tears following Saturday’s loss.
“It was really inspirational,” Robledo said of the postgame meeting. “[Kaplansky] said he had a lot of fun coaching us, and he taught us a lot of life lessons that I don’t think anyone is gonna forget.”
Perhaps making the defeat feel more like a stinger was that, after San Benito adjusted to Gunn’s zone, it simply couldn’t connect on enough attempts to erase the first-quarter gap, despite some open looks. It finished 7 of 30 from the field, with four of its seven made field goals coming from behind the arc.
“I think if we could have made a couple more early baskets, we would have been in it for the rest of the game. But that didn’t happen,” said Robledo, who finished with five points Saturday.
The zone defense often plays right into San Benito’s strengths, but Gunn’s aggressiveness and size in the backcourt made even getting off an open look a difficult task. Kaplansky said it was a season-high for deflections — there were at least three on San Benito’s very first offensive possession of the game — which forced the Balers to make high-lofting passes and take contested shots in the opening stanza.
They trailed Gunn 12-3 after the first quarter.
“We just had to adjust on defense,” Glasspool said. “That 10-0 run really hurt us because we were down by 10 the whole game.
“But they had a really good defense. We just had to knock down our shots. We did have open shots, though.”
Finding the open man with a skip-pass out to the corners, San Benito began pushing back against Gunn’s zone in the second quarter. Glasspool made her second 3 early on, while Cyrena Salinas, who deposited a team-high 10 points, later followed with a trey to cut the deficit to six, at 16-10.
But turnovers, as would be experienced later in the game for the Balers as well, had a way of halting San Benito’s momentum. Gunn forced two straight takeaways on the next two possessions, and closed out the half on a 7-3 run and a 23-13 halftime lead.
“The zone defense was well coached, but I also think we really played right into it,” Kaplansky said. “Early on, they really dictated our offense. But at the same time, we had so many looks, so many opportunities, that I thought we could have stopped their momentum.
“The skip-pass 3 was open all game, but the arc on the [pass] was too high.”
Gunn’s size, from its posts to its guards, had an influence on the way San Benito passed the ball. It also had an influence under the boards, as the Titans took 23 more shots than the Balers on Saturday, much of which was due to its rebounding prowess and its ability to extend possessions.
“I think I could have been a lot more physical inside,” Robledo said.
Gunn head coach Sarah Stapp said one of her fears entering the game was San Benito’s balance, from its post players to its perimeter players, and its ability to score from either the inside or the outside.
“And that’s tough because you can’t just guard one or the other,” Stapp said. “But I thought they did a good job in the first half, especially, with their skip-pass with the 3-point shot. But we made some adjustments on tightening up our traps so they could keep a slower pass and we could rotate out of it.”
The Balers had one last push in them in the second half when they made it an eight-point game, at 31-23, following a 10-4 run at the tail end of the third quarter that culminated with a pull-up jumper by Echaorre. But similar to its run in the second quarter, San Benito committed three straight turnovers on its next three possessions, and Gunn closed out the period on a 5-2 run.
It never looked back, eventually garnering a 42-26 lead with 2:47 remaining when San Benito emptied its bench.
“There was a moment in the third quarter when we had three turnovers. Those are situations we had to continue to cut the lead,” Kaplansky said. “The biggest possessions of the game.”
Gunn never let the comeback happen, though. Anchored by Catherine Perez, Julia Maggioncalda and Zoe Zwerling, who combined for 41 of the Titans’ 50 points scored on Saturday, the Titans limited San Benito to just three points for the remainder of the contest.
“They were giving us looks,” Kaplansky said. “We just couldn’t capitalize on our runs.”
Notes:
San Benito shot 23 percent (7 of 30) from the field, 57 percent (8 of 14) from the line, and committed 21 turnovers … Gunn shot 38 percent (20 of 53) from the field, 100 percent (6 of 6) from the line, and committed nine turnovers … Gunn will play against Gilroy at Christopher High on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. In the other Division I semifinal, No. 5 North Salinas will play top-seed Palo Alto at 5:30 p.m.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SANB 3 10 12 1 26
GUNN 12 11 13 14 50
San Benito (26): E. Glasspool 2-9 1-2 7, N. Rianda 0-7 0-2 0, K. Robledo 1-3 3-4 5, C. Salinas 2-7 4-6 10, J. Echaorre 2-4 0-0 4.
Three-point goals: E. Glasspool 2, C. Salinas 2.
Gunn (50): Z. Zwerling 5-16 0-0 11, C. Klausner 2-5 0-0 5, J. Maggioncalda 4-8 4-4 14, C. Perez 7-19 2-2 16, E. Redfield, 2-4 0-0 4, S. Klem 0-1 0-0 0.
Three-point goals: Z. Zwerling 1, C. Klausner 1, J. Maggioncalda 2.
