Victoria Aguilera scored a team-high 15 poiunts, Jackie Echaorre
added 10 points off the bench, and the San Benito Lady Balers
snapped a two-game losing streak when they defeated visiting Notre
Dame 57-34 on Thursday night at Hollister’s Mattson Gym.
HOLLISTER
Victoria Aguilera scored a team-high 15 points, Jackie Echaorre added 10 points off the bench, and the San Benito Lady Balers snapped a two-game losing streak when they defeated visiting Notre Dame 57-34 on Thursday night at Hollister’s Mattson Gym.
After the Spirits jumped out to a 19-11 lead through one quarter of play, the Lady Balers played locked down defense for the remaining three quarters, allowing just 15 points total through the second, third and fourth quarters.
“The girls did a great job playing three quarters of basketball,” San Benito head coach David Kaplansky said. “We made it difficult for Notre Dame to get looks and we did a good job pushing the ball.”
The Lady Balers previously defeated Notre Dame 47-30 on the road on Jan. 19. However, San Benito lost its last two games to North Salinas and Gilroy (Gilroy topped North Salinas 43-40 on Thursday night), and fell behind by eight points in the first period to Notre Dame.
“In the first quarter, we were real flat offensively and we weren’t moving on defense. It was a lay-up contest,” Kaplansky said. “But once we started moving on defense, it opened up the offense.
“We got out in transition and that really got us going.”
Despite the first-quarter deficit, San Benito led 27-25 at halftime, then 40-31 through three quarters.
Erin Glasspool had nine points behind three 3-pointers, while both Cyrena Salinas and Nicole Rianda had six points each. San Benito, meanwhile, drained eight 3-pointers in the game.
“That’s a good sign that we’re shooting the ball well,” Kaplansky said.
San Benito is off until Tuesday when they will host Alisal for Senior Night. Tip-off is 7 p.m.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
ND 19 6 6 3 34
SB 11 16 13 17 57
San Benito (57): J. Echaorre 1 2 2-3 10, C. Salinas 0 2 0-0 6, M. Vallejo 0 1 0-0 3, E. Glasspool 0 3 0-0 9, M. Cortez 1 0 0-1 2, C. Pate 1 0 0-0 2, G. Magee 1 0 0-0 2, N. Rianda 3 0 0-0 6, V. Aguilera 6 0 3-5 15, E. Burley 1 0 0-0 2.
JV Note:
The San Benito Lady Balers lost to visiting Notre Dame 30-24 on Thursday night in Tri-County Athletic League action.
San Benito is now 12-7 overall.
Despite outscoring the Spirits 5-3 in the first quarter, the Lady Balers fell behind 17-10 at the break.
“But my girls, they were amazing tonight,” San Benito head coach Karen Fortino said. “The improvements they made from the last time we played Notre Dame aren’t really reflective on the score.”
The first time the two teams met, Fortino added, San Benito had difficulty executing on offense.
“But they did that tonight,” she said. “We controlled the ball. We slowed them down and didn’t allow them to run-and-gun against us.”
The difference in the game came at the free-throw line, however.
The loss follows a 53-26 defeat to Gilroy last Tuesday, in which the Lady Balers trailed the Mustangs 24-19 at halftime. Tawne Haynish led San Benito with seven points, while Carrie Gutierrez added six and Olivia Diaz had five.
San Benito will host Alisal on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
ND 3 14 10 3 30
SB 5 5 6 8
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SANB 9 10 2 5 26
GILR 14 10 12 17 53
