Behind 14 points from Nicole Rianda, the San Benito Lady Balers
started slow but finished strong on Tuesday night in Salinas en
route to a 47-30 Tri-County Athletic League victory over host Notre
Dame.
SALINAS
Behind 14 points from Nicole Rianda, the San Benito Lady Balers started slow but finished strong on Tuesday night in Salinas en route to a 47-30 victory over host Notre Dame in Tri-County Athletic League action.
The Lady Balers, who are now 3-1 in the TCAL and 14-2 overall, have won two straight games and six of their last seven. The team was coming off a 46-38 win against Gilroy last Thursday, in which Rianda deposited six fourth-quarter points.
“She found some momentum in the fourth quarter against Gilroy and it carried over to tonight,” San Benito head coach David Kaplansky said. “She did a great job giving us some offense.”
Both Victoria Aguilera and Erin Glasspool had eight points apiece for the Lady Balers, while guard Jackie Echaorre deposited seven points — six of which came from behind the arc.
San Benito didn’t grab the lead until the second quarter, though. Trailing 11-9 after one quarter of play, the Lady Balers outscored the Spirits 17-5 in the second quarter to take a 26-16 lead to halftime.
“Notre Dame played hard tonight,” Kaplansky said. “Their defense played us tough and our girls had to match their intensity level. But once we got past that point, the girls started to take over the game.”
Although the two teams exchanged points in the third quarter, San Benito found a 13-6 edge in the fourth to close out the game.
“But they came out real aggressive,” Kaplansky added. “We got off to a slow start. We weren’t moving our feet well on defense and we were giving up shots we don’t normally give up.
“But we eventually wore them down.”
The Spirits fall to 2-2 in the TCAL, 5-11 overall.
San Benito will be back in action on Thursday when it will travel to Alisal at 7 p.m. The Trojans, who have one of the better home-court advantages in the TCAL, currently sit tied with the Lady Balers in the standings — each team with one loss to their record.
“They make it difficult to play at their place,” Kaplansky said. “It’s always one of the tougher road games.”
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SB 9 17 8 13 47
ND 11 5 8 6 30
San Benito (47): J. Echaorre 0 2 1-2 7, C. Salinas 1 0 2-4 4, M. Vallejo 1 0 0-0 2, E. Glasspool 0 2 2-2 8, V. Casalegno 1 0 2-3 4, N. Rianda 6 0 2-4 14, V. Aguilera 2 0 4-6 8.
JV Note:
The San Benito Lady Balers lost just their third game of the season on Tuesday night when they fell to Notre Dame by a 49-32 margin.
San Benito is now 2-2 in the Tri-County Athletic League and 10-3 overall.
“They executed their full-court press on defense and we were just not able to break it,” San Benito head coach Karen Fortino said.
To make matters worse, two Lady Baler guards got into early foul trouble as well. Although San Benito outscored Notre Dame 11-10 after one quarter, it fell behind 25-17 at halftime.
The Spirits then posted a 24-15 edge in the second half.
“It was really the press defense that Notre Dame handed us tonight,” Fortino said. “We were not able to get into an offensive groove.”
Nickole Gutierrez led the Lady Balers with eight points, while Kayla Ortiz added seven and Megan Sabbatini had five.
San Benito will return to action on Thursday when it will visit Alisal at 5:30 p.m.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SB 11 6 9 6 32
ND 10 15 14 10 49
