The San Benito girls basketball team will host the Red v. White
Alumni Game on Monday night at Mattson Gym in Hollister. The alumni
v. alumni fund-raiser will begin at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Tickers are $3 for adults, $2 for students and children and $10
(includes a T-shirt) for former players. All proceeds will go
directly to the San Benito High girls basketball program. The
Hollister National Junior Basketball Association will perform at
halftime.
SAN JOSE
In this case, it wasn’t necessarily about the finish, but the start of the game that may have been the difference.
The Miramonte girls basketball team jumped out to a 9-0 lead to open the Presentation Shootout against San Benito on Saturday. While the Lady ‘Balers managed to settle down, outscoring the Matadors for the remainder of the first quarter and even the game, the 9-0 start was enough as Miramonte staved off San Benito in the end, 47-42.
‘Baler Vanessa Farias led the team with15 points, while teammate Megan Halstead added 10 points and Vanessa Casalegno had seven.
The Lady ‘Balers are now 4-3 overall.
“We just came out really flat,” San Benito head coach David Kaplansky said. “We just weren’t in any rhythm and we couldn’t get any offensive rebounds.”
Miramonte’s 6-foot-4 center Stephanie Golden, who had 15 points for the Orinda school Saturday, did most of her damage under the glass, Kaplansky said, and supplied the Matadors with frequent second and third chance scoring opportunities early on.
“We had a hard time stopping their big girl,” Kaplansky said of Golden. “She was getting a lot of rebounds. We had to put two bodies on her just to keep her off the glass.”
After Miramonte’s 9-0 start, San Benito pocketed a couple easy layups, found a rhythm and outscored the Matadors 6-3 for the remainder of the quarter.
Kaplansky challenged his team at halftime, feeling the Lady ‘Balers could up the level of enthusiasm in the third and fourth quarters, and San Benito opened the second half on a 6-0 run. Over the second, third and fourth quarters, San Benito actually outscored Miramonte 36-35, but free throws kept the Matadors afloat late in the game.
“This was our true measuring stick,” Kaplansky said. “They were a tough opponent with tough athletes, and we were right there at the end of the game to win.
“Once we started getting into that rhythm of up and down and making layups, it gave us the momentum to get back in the game.”
The invite-only shootout welcomed teams like Archbishop Mitty of San Jose, Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland and Kennedy High of Sacramento.
San Benito will return to Mattson Gym on Tuesday to host Harbor High of Santa Cruz (0-5).
Tip-off is at 7 p.m.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SB 6 10 15 11 42
MM 12 12 13 10 47
San Benito (42) – Farias 6 1 0-0 15, Halstead 2 0 6-10 10, Aguilera 2 0 0-0 4, Casalegno 2 1 0-0 7, Guerrero 1 0 0-0 2, Glasspool 0 1 1-2 4.
Note:
The San Benito girls basketball team will host the Red v. White Alumni Game on Monday night at Mattson Gym in Hollister.
The alumni v. alumni fund-raiser will begin at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Tickers are $3 for adults, $2 for students and children and $10 (includes a T-shirt) for former players.
All proceeds will go directly to the San Benito High girls basketball program.
The Hollister National Junior Basketball Association will perform at halftime.
