No. 2 Lady ‘Balers prep for No. 6 Piedmont Hills
After Saturday’s 63-44 victory against league-rival Gilroy in the quarterfinals of the CCS Girls Basketball Championships, the San Benito Lady ‘Balers stand one win away from accomplishing something no other Hollister basketball team has done: make it to the section finals.
But after entering Saturday’s contest with a plethora of knowledge on the No. 7 Mustangs – as it was the third time the two teams have met up this season – second-seeded San Benito will have a quick turnaround for Wednesday’s semifinal round matchup against No. 6 Piedmont Hills (19-10), which defeated No. 3 Evergreen Valley 58-41 Saturday.
“It’s gonna be a tough opponent,” head coach David Kaplansky said. “They have a lot of tournament experience.”
The Pirates, which have an all-time CCS record of 23-20, sat in the semifinals last year but fell to Milpitas 57-41.
Additionally, their 9-5 league record is battled-tested, as Piedmont Hills is out of the tough Blossom Valley Athletic League – Mount Hamilton Division, where they finished tied for third place with Westmont and Prospect. Evergreen Valley was the second-place team.
“The fact that they play in a tough league and with a tough preseason schedule,” Kaplansky said, “they’ll be ready for us. They’re extremely quick – real uptempo.
“They do a good job of spreading the floor and cutting to the hoop. Their offense is spread out for their athletes to make one-on-one plays.”
Athletes include Traci Yamashita, who dropped 16 points on Evergreen Saturday, while Tichelle Thomas added 14 for the Pirates.
Kaplansky is expecting plenty of high screens from Piedmont Hills in order to make it a numbers game, while the Pirates play a smaller brand of basketball, as two of their post players are approximately 5-foot-9.
“They’re gonna try and isolate us into one-on-one situations and back-pick us on the weak side,” Kaplansky said. “We’ve got to get out and help. They do a good job of finding the open spot on the court.”
After their win against Evergreen, Piedmont Hills coach Ian Tippett, supplying some bulletin board material for San Benito, was quoted by David Keifer in Sunday’s edition of the San Jose Mercury News by saying, “I thought if we won this one we’d have a really good shot at making it into the finals.”
San Benito, though, remains in their way.
“Hopefully, our players are fired up,” Kaplansky said in response. “As far as [Piedmont Hills is] concerned, they play a stronger schedule and in a stronger league.
“Right now is a good opportunity to take another step forward by getting to the championship game and showing that we’re a true 2-seed and a competitive program.”
