Leading by just two points early in the second quarter against
last-place Live Oak, which hasn’t won a league game, it was time
for a big-time player to step up for the San Benito High girls
basketball team.
As usual, that player was senior guard Trisha Lee, who scored
nine of the next 12 points for the Lady Balers en route to a 52-31
victory over the visiting Acorns in Tri-County Athletic League play
Friday night.
By JIM JOHNSON
Leading by just two points early in the second quarter against last-place Live Oak, which hasn’t won a league game, it was time for a big-time player to step up for the San Benito High girls basketball team.
As usual, that player was senior guard Trisha Lee, who scored nine of the next 12 points for the Lady Balers en route to a 52-31 victory over the visiting Acorns in Tri-County Athletic League play Friday night.
The Balers (17-6, 4-2 TCAL) are in third place behind first-place Notre Dame (6-2) and second-place Salinas (5-1). Live Oak (2-17 overall) fell to 0-6 in league play.
Lee’s second-quarter scoring burst included a 3-pointer that gave the Balers a 26-13 halftime lead. Lee didn’t score the rest of the way, but finished with a game-high 13 points for San Benito.
After a Live Oak basket and two free throws cut the Baler lead to 28-17 early in the second half, San Benito scored 10 consecutive points to put the game out of reach.
Baler center Jaime Hall scored a pair of baskets during the scoring run and finished with eight points overall. Hall also had 11 rebounds. San Benito’s Jennifer Anaya added 10 points for the Balers, and Kristina Leal had five.
The four 3-pointers in the game were a season high for the Balers.
“I felt we were in control of the game’s tempo throughout,” said Baler coach Tom Dean. “Leal and Anaya were squaring up to the basket very well tonight on their shots. It was nice to see the guards come out and score tonight. That will us stop the double and triple teams.”
Live Oak’s Ruth Dominguez had a team-high 10 points for the Acorns, who also got eight points from Megan Smart.
“Live Oak was a much improved team this time around,” Dean said. “We were very strong on defense and showed very good patience on offense. We only had 13 fouls and 13 turnovers. We pushed it up the court but recognized when we didn’t have the numbers and went into the set offense.”
The Balers host Gilroy on Tuesday and North Salinas on Thursday in TCAL play.
Live Oak 8 5 8 10––31
San Benito 12 14 12 14––52
Live Oak: Dominguez 5 0-0 10, Smart 3 2-2 8, Llanes 2 0-2 4, Lytle 1 1-2 3, Curley 1 0-0 2, Robinson 1 0-0 2, Cline 1 0-0 2. Totals 14 3-6 31.
San Benito: Lee 5 0-1 13, Anaya 2 0-2 10, Hall 3 2-6 8, Andrewson 2 0-0 4, Leal 2 0-0 5, Patton 2 0-0 4, Flores 1 0-0 2, Wilson 1 0-0 2, Keiswetter 0 1-2 1, Almaguer 0 3-4 3. Totals 21 6-12 52.
3-point goals: SB-Anaya (2), Leal, Lee.
