Behind 14 points from Victoria Aguilera and three other players
who chimed in with eight points apiece, the Lady Balers delivered
perhaps their most balanced scoring attack of the season on
Saturday when they downed a shorthanded Sobrato squad 60-21 at Del
Mar High in San Jose, and opened the holiday tournament in similar
fashion from a year ago.
SAN JOSE
In a way, both the San Benito and Sobrato girls basketball teams were starting over on Saturday.
The Lady Balers were coming off a 57-30 loss last Tuesday to Presentation, the Bulldogs back-to-back defeats to Scotts Valley and Carmel.
But while a win for either team during Saturday’s opening round of the Dons Club Holiday Tournament certainly would have provided the right medicine, it simply was the right medicine that Sobrato was in search of.
“I lost three girls last week,” Bulldogs head coach Natalie Bobuk said. “We’re kind of in a recovery stage.”
And San Benito took advantage.
Behind 14 points from Victoria Aguilera and three other players who chimed in with eight points apiece, the Lady Balers delivered perhaps their most balanced scoring attack of the season on Saturday when they downed a shorthanded Sobrato squad 60-21 at Del Mar High in San Jose, and opened the holiday tournament in similar fashion from a year ago.
As two-time defending Division I champions, the Lady Balers won four straight games at the Del Mar tourney last season to claim the Dons Club crown, and set off a season-high 12 straight victories in the process that didn’t end until early February.
San Benito head coach David Kaplansky said his team delivered two strong practices leading up to Saturday’s opener, where the Lady Balers corrected some of the problems that were exposed in their game against Presentation.
“We learned a lot about ourselves,” Kaplansky said. “All week in practice, we were able to work on what we struggled with against Presentation.
“And this was probably the most balanced we’ve been all year, scoring-wise. There were a lot of girls who contributed scoring.”
Without three of their players, though, including two starters and a sixth-man, the Bulldogs simply couldn’t keep pace with San Benito’s spread-out attack.
“It was a difficult game to play,” Bobuk said.
Sobrato was without the services of Courtney Sedlak, Jessica Westall and Katie Nicca, all of whom suffered some form of an injury during a recent game against Scotts Valley at the Cougar Classic in San Lorenzo Valley.
“That was a terrible night,” Bobuk said.
Sedlak is done for the season after she tore her ACL, while Westall suffered a severe ankle sprain and will be out for a couple more weeks, Bobuk said. Meanwhile, Nicca will be out for at least one more week after she suffered a mild concussion against Scotts Valley.
Saturday’s game against the Lady Balers was Sobrato’s first game back since the San Lorenzo Valley tourney.
“It was an adjustment, and I don’t think we were ready,” Bobuk said. “We’re trying to get a grasp on everyone’s new roles now that we’re missing three players.”
Bulldogs Pryanka Kumar and Megan Ando each had seven points apiece to lead Sobrato, which returned to the Del Mar tournament on Monday night against Westmont.
That game took place after press time.
“As the game progressed, they were improving,” Bobuk said. “They were seeing each other better and moving better, and them time ran out.
“But I think at the end it started clicking.”
Sobrato’s Melissa Cachopo added five points for the Bulldogs.
“They were very tight, very effective on defense,” Bobuk added of San Benito. “You can see why they win championships.”
Vanessa Casalegno, Nicole Rianda and Cyrena Salinas deposited eight points each for the Lady Balers, while Erin Glasspool and Cassie Pate added seven points apiece. San Benito had 10 different scorers.
“We ran our offense really well,” said Kaplansky, whose Lady Balers controlled leads of 21-8 after one quarter and 37-12 at halftime. “I liked the way we worked in the half-court and we were able to score out of our offense.”
San Benito will return to the Del Mar tournament on Tuesday against Mountain View at 6 p.m., where it will look to get off to another quick start.
“We played good defense, good team defense,” Kaplansky said. “And we got off to a great start.”
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SOBR 8 4 2 7 21
SANB 21 16 19 4 60
San Benito (60): V. Aguilera 6 0 2-3 14, V. Casalegno 3 0 2-2 8, E. Glasspool 1 1 2-2 7, N. Rianda 3 0 2-2 8, C. Pate 2 0 3-4 7, M. Vallejo 1 0 0-0 2, J. Echaorre 1 0 0-0 2, C. Salinas 2 1 1-2 8, M. Cortez 1 0 0-1 2, M. Fortino 1 0 0-0 2.
JV Note:
The San Benito junior varsity girls basketball team opened up the JV Winter Jam Tournament at Alisal with a rousing 49-16 victory over Pacific Grove on Monday night in Salinas.
Kayla Ortiz and Olivia Diaz each had 10 points apiece for the Lady Balers, who improve to 6-1 this season.
Tawne Haynish and Ellie Burley each added eight points for San Benito.
“We’re getting better at running our offense,” San Benito head coach Karen Fortino said. “We play such great defense, but I’m trying to teach them to be a little more patient on offense.”
San Benito jumped out to a 20-5 lead after one quarter of play against Pacific Grove, which then trailed 26-9 at halftime.
“Tonight I think we opened a door as to what we’ll be seeing in the TCAL,” Fortino said, referring to how teams in the Tri-County Athletic League will often switch from man to zone defenses throughout the game.
“Our guards did a very good job recognizing when Pacific Grove would switch from a man to a zone,” Fortino added.
The Lady Balers will return to the Winter Jam Tournament on Tuesday when they will play either Watsonville or Alisal at 8 p.m.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SB 20 6 9 14 49
PG 5 4 6 1 16
