It took San Benito a come-from-behind victory to defeat North
Monterey County just 10 days ago. But on Friday night in the
semifinal round of the Alisal Winter Jam Classic in Salinas, the
Lady Balers received 20 points from Victoria Aguilera, kept the
tempo up, played strong defense and cruised to a 49-30 win over the
Condors.
SALINAS
It took San Benito a come-from-behind victory to defeat North Monterey County just 10 days ago. But on Friday night in the semifinal round of the Alisal Winter Jam Classic in Salinas, the Lady Balers received 20 points from Victoria Aguilera, kept the tempo up, played strong defense and cruised to a 49-30 win over the Condors.
Erin Glasspool added nine points for San Benito, which improves to 7-0 on the season. The Lady Balers will play in the Winter Jam championship on Saturday against Madera.
San Benito head coach David Kaplansky noted his team’s defense in Friday’s win, including the play of Aguilera, who held North County’s Ayana MacShate to just two field goals.
On Dec. 9, when the two teams met in Castroville in what was a 43-31 win for San Benito, MacShate deposited 11 points on the Lady Balers.
“She played really well,” Kaplansky said of Aguilera. “We held [MacShate] to two field goals, which made big difference. We did a much better job containing her.”
San Benito also did a much better job of containing Condor Savannah Skelton, who scored 12 points against the Lady Balers in their previous game. On Friday, she was held to a single 3-point field goal.
“We did a good job identifying their top-two scorers,” Kaplansky said.
Whereas San Benito trailed 17-9 at halftime against North County on Dec. 9, the Lady Balers controlled a sizable 25-12 lead at the break on Friday and a 36-17 lead after three quarters.
Cassie Pate, who Kaplansky said had her “best game of the season,” scored six points off the bench for San Benito.
“A huge boost off the bench,” the head coach said. “She did a great job rebounding and played good defense, good team defense.
“I also think the pace of the game really helped us and tired them out. We really played into their strengths the last time, but we were able to get them running early and the girls came out early to set the tempo.”
The Lady Balers will now play in their second straight tournament championship; last week San Benito defeated El Camino Fundamental of Sacramento in the Wildcatz Invitational in Watsonville.
Saturday’s championship against Madera (6-1) will be held at Alisal High in Salinas. Tip-off is 3:30 p.m.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
NOMC 4 8 5 13 30
SANB 9 16 11 13 49
San Benito (49) — M. Vallejo 2 0 0 4, E. Glasspool 0 3 0 9, C. Pate 2 0 2-3 6, V. Casalegno 2 0 0 4, M. Fortino 0 1 2-2 5, N. Rianda 0 0 1-2 1, V. Aguilera 8 0 4-4 20.
