Division II powerhouse defeats the Lady ‘Balers 72-31 Friday in
San Jose
SAN JOSE
If last season taught the San Benito girls basketball team anything, it’s that anything is possible.
And if Friday night’s loss at Presentation High showed San Benito anything, it will only help the team toward reaching their postseason dream for a second straight season.
Using a high-pressure, full-court run-and-jump defense, Presentation held the Lady ‘Balers to just 10 points in the first half as they powered their way past San Benito to a 72-31 victory on Friday in San Jose.
It’s the first loss of the regular season for San Benito, which falls to 2-1 on the year. Presentation, a Division II powerhouse and member school of the dominant West Catholic Athletic League, improves to 3-0.
“It was an eye-opener,” said post player Megan Halstead, who had six points Friday on 3 of 5 shooting. “I think they’re gonna be a lot similar to teams we’re gonna face later on. It’s good to play them now so we can get it out of our system.”
Presentation set the tone from the start, outscoring San Benito 16-4 in the first quarter. The Panthers used a run-and-jump defense, which is a man-to-man that utilizes defensive switches and forces teams to alter their tempo.
For San Benito, Presentation’s defense either had them over-dribbling or picking up their dribble, and the Panthers forced frequent turnovers as a result.
“Unfortunately, every time we picked up the ball or over-dribbled, we fell right into their trap,” San Benito head coach David Kaplansky said. “That’s in my opinion our Achilles heel, and we just need to get better at it.”
Panther Chelsea Punion led all scorers with 14 points – including three 3-pointers – while teammate Ariel Walked added 12.
After San Benito started to break Presentation’s press in the first half, Kaplansky felt his team wasn’t setting up their attack on the offensive end. With San Benito trailing 35-10 at halftime, Kaplansky challenged his team in the locker room.
“In the third quarter we wore them down a little bit because we got some screens, we got the ball inside, we started doing some things to score some points,” Kaplansky said.
The Lady ‘Balers used a high screen in the third quarter and capitalized with a pair of 3-pointers – one by Erin Glasspool and another by Vanessa Farias – as they outscored the Panthers 11-10 in the third stanza.
Glasspool led the Lady ‘Balers with seven points.
“The reason why we’re challenging these teams,” Kaplansky said, “and the reason why we’re scheduling these teams is so we can get our weaknesses exposed so we know what to improve on as we get toward league and get toward the playoffs.
“I would have liked to have seen a better showing. I thought the third quarter was great … but you’re not gonna compete in a basketball game playing one quarter.”
With just three games under San Benito’s belt in the early season, Farias, who was subject to double teams for the majority of the night, felt that with a little more practice the Lady ‘Balers would certainly have had a better showing.
But she, too, realized the importance of these early-season showdowns.
“I honestly feel in a way it was a good thing,” Farias said. “This is getting us prepared for our league … We’re gonna face teams like this along the line. This is getting us ready for that.
“Even though we lost by a big margin, I really feel it was good because we learned more. I would rather have taken this game than play against some team that we might have killed.”
San Benito will return to Mattson Gym in Hollister on Tuesday for a game against North Monterey County. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.
“There’s a lot we need to improve upon,” Kaplansky said. “I felt like we competed, but we were just going up against a better team at this part of the year.”
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SB 4 6 11 10 31
PR 16 19 10 27 72
San Benito (31) – Ademek 2-4 1-2 5, Aguilera 1-5 0-0 2, Halstead 3-5 0-0 6, Farias 1-8 0-0 3, Glasspool 2-4 2-2 7, N. Rianda 1-3 0-0 2, Guerrero 0-0 2-2 2, Baker 0-3 4-6 4.
Three-point goals – Farias 1, Glasspool 1.
