Richard Silva is a lucky man. Silva, the head coach of the
Hollister High Lady Balers basketball team, has four more
non-league games to find the right combinations before his club
enters Tri-County Athletic League play on Jan. 16.
Richard Silva is a lucky man. Silva, the head coach of the Hollister High Lady Balers basketball team, has four more non-league games to find the right combinations before his club enters Tri-County Athletic League play on Jan. 16. The Lady Balers, 9-3, should be able to record ‘W’s over these four teams, which would make their record 13-3, giving them some needed confidence going into the league season.
I’m talking about confidence which may have been eroded after a 47-point defeat to El Camino of Sacramento in the semifinals of the Oak Grove Tournament on Friday. Playing a team like the Eagles is as frustrating as it is tiring. The only area team I know which plays that style of play is Pinewood, a small, private school in Los Altos Hills. And if you are somewhat long-in-the-tooth and need another comparison, flash back to Loyola Marymount University men’s team under Paul Westhead, which used to run-and-gun their opponent’s to death (early ’80’s, if that helps). The Lions used to give up 100 or so, but they would score 125 or more by pushing the ball, spotting up, and shooting within about five seconds. Add some pretty good man defense and one has El Camino.
Pinewood head coach Doc Scheppler, a 3-point shooting guru, has his Panthers spot up from beyond the arc and nail three after three after three. Or they can pound the ball into their tremendous center Katy Digovich, not a bad option. Digovich, if she stays healthy, will probably be the CCS Player-of-the-Year by season’s end. Sebnem Kimyacioglu, now a star on the Stanford women’s team, flourished at Pinewood under Scheppler’s system. She’s shooting .400 from beyond the arc for the Cardinal, an outstanding percentage.
For a fan who wants entertainment, that kind of style is fun to watch. However, it’s not fun to be on the wrong end of it. And like El Camino coach Bill Baxter, Scheppler doesn’t let up. Silva didn’t think the Eagles of El Camino needed to keep putting up three’s and pressing at the midcourt area after the game was well in hand and he told Baxter about it after the game. But, when you drill it into your players’ heads for two hours a day at practice, training your players to run to the correct spot and deliver the pass right on target like Pavlov’s dog, it must be tough for Baxter to get them to roll over and play dead.
Blame it on Westmoor of Daly City. The Rams, who were last in the CCS playoffs in 1996 and are 1-7 in the CCS in the history of the school, canceled out at the last minute. That opened the door for an entry fee from El Camino, which won the tournament with a modest win over Castilleja on Saturday, 61-49. The Eagles led the Gators by 24 at the half.
“I was watching the beginning of that game,” said Silva. “El Camino didn’t hit the shots they were hitting against us. I said to myself, ‘Now you miss those shots! Why didn’t you do it against us?'”
If it makes Silva and the Lady Balers any better, I say they would have won the tournament title had Westmoor decided to take a hike. They were the second best team in the tournament.
I didn’t see the actual championship game, but I did read that Casty point guard Mika Peterman, just a sophomore, had 27 points. I did see Peterman, who stands just 5-foot-5, carry the Gators to a 46-43 win over Oak Grove in the semis. Peterman had 18 points and five assists. She’s quick and has the ability to dribble through the press, see the floor and pass to a teammate while she’s on the run.
The Balers have two guards – senior Gina Caianiello and sophomore Trisha Lee – who have the ability to do that, as well. They just need to be more under control and more consistent with that ability, like Peterman is. When they take their time on the floor to make the right decisions, either shooting, dribbling or passing the ball, Caianiello and Lee are outstanding guards. Even futher, though Hollister assistant coach Clay Lee charts individual turnovers, turnovers are a team thing. It takes two to execute – the passer and the receiver. Thirty-three turnovers against El Camino, or even 28 turnovers in an easy win over Oak Grove, for that matter, won’t get the job done for the Lady Balers.
The ball should be treated like gold. If one turns the ball over, one can’t score. This Lady Baler team has the athletes, lucky for Silva, to solve the problem. These next four games will be pivotal to start taking care of the basketball for Notre Dame, which the Balers play in their fifth league game, will apply ball pressure out on the perimeter. In a Monterey Bay League game last year at Notre Dame, the Spirits completely took the Balers out of their halfcourt offense with stifling man defense.
Pretty much the whole Spirits team is back this year. And then there’s Mitty, which has knocked the Balers out of the CCS Division I playoffs the past two seasons. The Monarchs press, but they aren’t quite the “push-the-ball-up-the-court” team Pinewood and El Camino are.
Silva is a lucky man, all right, but he also has some heavy decisions to make. He’s been auditioning for the right lineup more than American Idol these past few weeks. He’s gone small by using three guards to go with center Sarah Groman and forward Naomi Ruiz. He’s gone big with 6-2 Kaylie Kortsen joining 6-1 Sarah Groman. The major bright spot up at Oak Grove was the emergence of Dani Andrewson. The 5-7 Andrewson didn’t take over the game, or anything like that, but she showed some quickness, some coordination and some determination, while being a pest, in general, to the opposition. I first saw her at an earlier preseason game and had my eyes opened when she burst about three yards up the floor without the ball. She’s only a sophomore and she should get better with more experience. She could be the X-factor for the Lady Balers this year, whose main goal should be the TCAL title.
I haven’t seen the Baler junior varsity play this season and I’m well aware of the fine job Tom Dean does at that level and am also aware that Dean’s girls are beating everyone by 30 points, or so. However, on paper, this year’s team appears to be better than next year’s team. Why? Because the top interior players – Naomi Ruiz, Jennifer Tremblay, Kortsen and Groman – are all seniors. The Balers top guard, Caianiello, who has made two all-tournament teams this year, is also a senior. Guard Desina Gonzalez, who has played a lot this year, is a senior guard. Those six players will be tough to replace.
Now, it’s decision time for Silva, as well as his players, who have to tighten things up these next four games without tightening up under pressure. For they will be pressed, as sure as Silva is lucky.
