Even without top two scorers in starting lineup, ‘Balers coast
past Alvarez
Hollister – The San Benito girls basketball team worked its way back into the win column Tuesday, beating Alvarez at home 43-30.
The Haybalers (7-14, 4-6) outscored the Eagles (3-18, 0-10) in each quarter while earning the victory despite not having their top two scorers in the starting lineup.
Elena Fata, the team’s second leading scorer missed the game and Vanessa Farias was held out of the starting lineup and played only the second and fourth quarters.
“I went with a little bit of a different rotation today,” said coach Al Rowe.
Farias still found her way around the basket and led the team with 11 points. Megan Halstead chipped in with 10 points and six others put points on the board.
“Everybody touched the ball and eight girls scored – that’s the highlight of the year,” Rowe said.
San Benito, which had been held to less than 40 points in losses to Notre Dame and Gilroy last week, came out looking to move the ball around .
Alvarez, meanwhile, came out looking to make things happen defensively.
“Alvarez was very aggressive,” Rowe said. “They mixed up their defenses. But as long as we kept the ball moving, we were fine.”
The ‘Balers also tried some variety with their defensive sets, utilizing both the half-court pressure that helped them to a 50-41 victory over Alvarez in their first meeting and applying a man-to-man press.
“Our half-court wasn’t working quite like last time, but the man was working really well,” Rowe said.
San Benito took a three-point lead after the first quarter and pushed it to 24-17 by halftime.
While the ‘Balers never fully blew the game wide open, they added to the lead in each of the final two quarter to keep the Eagles winless in Tri-County Athletic League play.
Kelsey Russel and Jayme Telles both scored six points for San Benito, with Vanessa Casalegno and Katie O’Brien each contributing four. Shareen Zamani and Rachelle Travis rounded out the books with a point each.
Alvarez’s leading scorer Chelsea Von Winning was limited to four points. Bianca Madrid paced the team with 10 points and Natalie Bunch had six.
