Vikings snap San Benito’s 13-game win streak Friday in a 38-29
victory
SALINAS
North Salinas’ Edthel Lugo may have seemed like a non-factor when she was assisted off the floor with a knee injury in the first quarter, but the powerful point guard certainly made her presence felt in the end.
Lugo left the game with 4:57 remaining in the first period, and although her playing time was somewhat sporadic over the next two quarters, the senior dropped seven of her team-high 10 points in the final stanza en route to a wild win over San Benito.
Using the same triangle-and-two defense that caused plenty of problems for San Benito the last time, North Salinas simply outlasted the Lady ‘Balers 38-29 Friday and not only snapped their 13-game win streak, but also handed Hollister its first league loss.
The nine-point defeat, which briefly increased to a double-digit margin in the final minute of the fourth quarter, suddenly has the Tri-County Athletic League somewhat top heavy, as three teams – San Benito (7-1), North Salinas (8-1) and Gilroy (7-2) – are all currently vying for a piece of the TCAL title.
The last two weeks of the season are sure to be interesting, and for San Benito, a quick rebound on Wednesday against Gilroy is much needed.
“It’s huge. Every game is the biggest game of the year,” San Benito head coach David Kaplansky said. “You’ve got to win out to get a share of this title.”
In a game where points were at a premium, both San Benito and North Salinas were able to showcase their league-leading defenses, each of which made offense synonymous with uncomfortable on Friday.
While the Lady ‘Balers had difficulty all game simply getting their shots to fall, finishing 11 of 49 from the field, North Salinas had difficulty all game turning the ball over, committing 21 turnovers to San Benito’s 13.
But the Vikings managed to simply stay ahead from the first quarter on, and although they held a narrow 26-22 lead going to the fourth quarter, they pushed forward just a little more in the waning moments with frequent trips to the free throw line.
“[North Salinas] played very good defense, came out with a sense of urgency and I just felt like our shots weren’t going in,” Kaplansky said. “I thought we did good on defense, but offensively, nothing was really going in tonight.
“We never really got any rhythm … I think North High came out here and played harder than we did tonight and that was the difference in the game.”
The Vikings employed the triangle-and-two defense, which held San Benito scoreless for the first three minutes of regulation the last time the two teams played – a 55-44 Lady ‘Baler victory on Jan. 12.
“Our defense stepped up. I thought they had a problem with it last time – the triangle-and-two – and we’ve been working on it and we actually got a little better at it,” North Salinas head coach Darren Jackson said. “But we played great defense tonight and we didn’t give up, no matter what.”
The triangle-and-two drops three players into a zone while the remaining two players play man-defense. In this case, San Benito’s Erin Glasspool and Vanessa Farias were given the man-defense treatment.
Glasspool finished with six points, while Farias had five.
Post player Victoria Aguilera, however, caused problems for North Salinas early on. Instead of positioning herself inside, Aguilera lingered out near the perimeter in order to spread the floor.
Displaying a strong outside shot, she finished with a team-high 10 points, including six of San Benito’s seven first-quarter points.
“That’s how I got open shots, when I stepped out away from their zone,” Aguilera said. “But they played a good game. They played a very good game.”
The Vikings’ Bina Abbott, who had eight points Friday, pulled down an offensive rebound and scored a put-back to give North Salinas a 9-7 lead with 1:32 left in the first quarter.
They would not trail for the remainder of the game.
“That’s a great team,” Jackson said. “We play them 10 times, it could go either way.”
In the fourth quarter, San Benito came within two points early on when Vanessa Casalegno nailed a baseline jumper to cut the game to 26-24, but North Salinas took control from there, Lugo especially.
“Sometimes it takes a loss like this in the middle of the year,” Kaplansky said. “Sometimes theses losses, hopefully our kids can learn from and maybe we can pick up the tempo in practice a little more.”
San Benito will host Gilroy Wednesday at Hollister’s Mattson Gym at 7 p.m.
“Gilroy next. My mind is on Gilroy now,” Aguilera said. “I’m not worrying about this game anymore. It’s over and done with.”
Notes:
San Benito was 4 of 10 from the free throw line … North Salinas shot 14 of 42 from the field, 8 of 16 from the line … Due to North Salinas’ lower enrollment this year, Friday’s match-up was the last time the two teams will meet this season, as San Benito is in Division I and North Salinas is in Division II.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SB 7 5 10 7 29
NS 9 8 9 12 38
San Benito (29): K. Russell 0-3 2-2 2, L. Ademek 0-0 1-4 1, V. Aguilera 5-13 0-0 10, V. Casalegno 2-7 1-2 5, V. Farias 2-12 0-0 5, E. Glasspool 2-9 0-0 6.
Three-point goals: V. Farias 1, E. Glasspool 2.
North Salinas (38): B. Abbott 4-10 0-2 8, J. Ashen 0-1 3-4 3, A. Ayala 2-7 0-0 5, C. Dacpano 1-6 3-7 5, J. Heubner 1-1 0-0 2, E. Lugo 4-11 1-1 10, J. Rowland 1-4 0-0 2, T. Winfield 1-2 1-2 3.
Three-point goals: A. Ayala 1, E. Lugo 1.
JV Note:
Despite 15 points from Michelle Fortino, the San Benito junior varsity girls basketball team was handed just its fourth loss of the season Friday when they lost 44-37 to host North Salinas.
Cyrena Salinas had eight points, Melisah Cortez and Jessica Steigleman each had four, while Kim Warner, Jackie Echaorre and Amanda Byron contributed two points apiece.
“It was a good game, but we just have a hard time coming out in the third quarter and keeping the intensity as high as we should,” San Benito head coach Karen Fortino said. “They man-pressed us the whole game. We had a very hard time breaking the press, even though we had a good week of practice.”
The Lady ‘Balers are now 15-4 overall.
San Benito trailed by just a single point at halftime, but North Salinas built their lead to five going into the fourth period, where the Haybalers and Vikings nearly matched point for point.
“I do like that we were able to spread the ball around,” Fortino said, “but I think on Monday we’re really gonna get back to the basics.”
San Benito will host Gilroy on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in Hollister.
“I’m happy with the way we played,” Fortino added. “We just came up a little bit short tonight.”
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SB 9 12 5 11 37
NS 10 12 9 13 44
