Erin Glasspool drilled the game’s first six points
— both of which came off wide-open 3’s — and had four treys
total as San Benito built an 11-2 lead in the first quarter and
never slowed down, routing No. 12 Silver Creek 65-40 in the second
round of the Central Coast Section playoffs.
HOLLISTER
Somewhat surprisingly, San Benito’s initial gameplan coming into Thursday night’s Division I playoff game against visiting Silver Creek turned out to be almost the exact opposite of how it actually transpired.
“We were trying to get inside more to Vickie (Aguilera) and our bigs,” said starting point guard Erin Glasspool, who could have fooled just about everyone at Hollister’s Mattson Gym on Thursday night.
With Aguilera and fellow post player Nicole Rianda heavily guarded in the paint early on, the Lady Balers instead opted for the air attack, and Glasspool was the main beneficiary.
The junior guard drilled the game’s first six points — both of which came off wide-open 3’s — and had four treys total as San Benito built an 11-2 lead in the first quarter and never slowed down, routing No. 12 Silver Creek 65-40 in the second round of the Central Coast Section playoffs.
“Well, he always wants us to shoot the ball,” Glasspool said, referring to head coach David Kaplansky.
Glasspool, who finished with 15 points, 12 of which came from behind the arc, opened up the paint as a result of her long-range prowess — Cyrena Salinas too drained a transition 3-pointer in the first quarter following an Aguilera block.
The deep ball almost immediately freed up both Aguilera and Rianda in the paint, though, and the two posts, who were kept quiet in the first quarter, cut loose for a combined 13 points by halftime.
Aguilera, who was held to just two points in the first quarter and didn’t play at all in the fourth quarter, finished with a game-high 18 points on 7 of 13 shooting.
“Erin (Glasspool) hit those 3’s and that got the momentum going,” Aguilera said. “When they would go out to defend the shooters, I’d be ready to post up.”
And when everything is falling, San Benito’s inside-outside approach is nearly unstoppable.
“When you’re a 3-point shooting team like we are, and they go in, that really opens up the offense,” Kaplansky said. “That 3-point shot has really been the shot for us. They spent a lot of time down low, and that really opened up our 3-point shooters.”
With the win, the No. 5 Lady Balers (21-4) advance to Saturday’s quarterfinal round at Mission College, where they will square off against No. 4 Santa Teresa (19-5). Tip-off is 5 p.m.
“Santa Teresa hasn’t played a game since last Thursday,” Aguilera said. “Our legs are hot.”
And on Thursday, so were the Lady Balers, who have scored 65 points or more only three times this season — the previous time on Jan. 5 against Everett Alvarez.
“I think we’re playing really good the last two games,” Glasspool said, referring to San Benito’s easy 44-17 victory at Salinas to close out the regular season.
The Lady Balers closed the first half on Thursday with an 11-4 run, sparked by a 3-ball from Glasspool that proved just about everything was falling for the Lady Balers in the first half — the team shot 44 percent (12 of 27) from the field.
After Vanessa Casalegno (7 points) missed a baseline jumper, the San Benito guard hustled to fetch her own rebound on the other side of the basket, then dished out to the top of the key where Glasspool was forced to throw up a prayer to beat the shot clock. From roughly 25 feet, Glasspool’s heave off her right foot not only beat the buzzer, but pushed San Benito out to a double-digit lead it would never relinquish.
The Lady Balers led 30-16 at halftime, 46-26 through three quarters.
“I think we played at a playoff level at Salinas,” Kaplansky said. “… It’s really carried over all week. It’s always good to be playing well at this time of the year, and hopefully it carries over to Saturday.”
Santa Teresa boasts a 5-2 record on a neutral floor this season, and has wins over Gilroy and Oak Grove. The Saints have also split contests with both Evergreen Valley and Silver Creek, however.
Led by “big” Madison Sanders-Curry (14.4 PPG), the Saints are said to be similar to many teams in the Blossom Valley Athletic League — quick.
“Get your running shoes on, it’s gonna be a quick game,” Kaplansky said. “But they’ve got two bigs that like to stretch the defense, step out and shoot 3’s.”
Said Aguilera, “We’re determined. It’s playoff time.”
Notes:
San Benito shot 42 percent (25 of 59) from the field, 77 percent (10 of 13) from the free-throw line … Santa Teresa shot 34 percent (17 of 50) from the field, 40 percent (4 of 10) from the line … The Lady Balers committed 16 turnovers in the game, while the Raiders committed 14 … Silver Creek head coach Sonny Flores was ejected from the game with 3:06 remaining in regulation after he picked up his second technical foul. The first technical foul came with 7:12 remaining in the fourth quarter.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SCRK 10 6 10 14 40
SANB 17 13 16 19 65
Silver Creek (40): M. Erezo 1-2 0-0 2, K. Zeijnali 6-11 2-4 14, T. Dang 5-20 2-2 14, M. Lovato 1-5 0-0 2, D. Nunez 2-2 0-2 4, H. Grewal 2-3 0-0 4.
Three-point goals: T. Dang 2.
San Benito (65): V. Casalegno 3-4 1-1 7, V. Aguilera 7-13 4-5 18, M. Vallejo 1-2 0-0 2, C. Pate 1-1 0-0 2, E. Glasspool 4-8 3-4 15, J. Echaorre 2-6 2-2 6, N. Rianda 3-7 0-0 6, E. Burley 3-5 0-0 6, C. Salinas 1-6 0-0 3.
Three-point goals: E. Glasspool 4, C. Salinas 1.
