North Salinas heats it up in 71-50 victory over San Benito
Hollister – The San Benito girls basketball team has no choice but to learn via on-the-job training. With just two players returning from last year’s team, that education has come at the expense of the cohesiveness that translates into consistent winning.
With two Tri-County Athletic League games under their belts, the Haybalers have their eyes wide open. After suffering a blowout loss at Gilroy last Friday, San Benito ran into a hot North Salinas team last night and suffered a 71-50 defeat.
“We just have to take each game as a learning experience and go from there,” said ‘Balers head coach Al Rowe.
The lesson San Benito should take from its initial league action is that it needs to play under control in order to give itself an opportunity to stay with its opponents. After committing an alarming 35 turnovers against Gilroy, the ‘Balers lost the ball another 33 times against the Vikings.
With its strength lying in its athletic guards and talented, but undersized forwards, San Benito likes to play an up-and-down game, pressuring opposing ballhandlers and attempting to move the ball quickly up the court on its offensive possessions. On paper, it’s a sound strategy, but the young ‘Balers are still working to iron out the kinks.
“We want to play at a fast pace,” said sophomore guard Elena Fata, “but we’re losing the ball and getting beat down the floor.”
The ‘Balers (6-8, 0-2 TCAL) did well to hang with North Salinas throughout the first half. When freshman guard Vanessa Farias rolled in a short jumper near the end of the first quarter, San Benito closed within 12-9.
The physical Vikings, who entered the contest on a seven-game winning streak, set the tone with their aggressive frontcourt, but showed they have much more than a powerful inside game. With both teams quickly in the bonus, North Salinas raced to a 31-21 halftime lead by connecting on its first nine free throws.
As the third quarter began, the Vikings (12-2, 2-0 TCAL) started to pull away when their defensive pressure earned them some easy baskets, while San Benito couldn’t find the hoop.
“We wore ’em down on defense,” said North Salinas head coach Darren Jackson. “Going from a man-to-man to a press, it kind of threw ’em off a bit.”
Farias, one of San Benito’s playmakers, said her team needs to overcome its turnover hang-up because opposing defenses will continue to prey on its mistakes.
“We have to see where we’re passing before we pass,” said Farias, who finished with four points. “When we see the full-court press coming, we think, ‘Oh no! What do we do?’ But all the teams are going to press you, so why be scared?”
If turnovers were the worst culprit for the ‘Balers, missing lay-ups would rank a close second. Time and again, San Benito’s quick players would advance the ball to find an open teammate under the basket, but rarely did that player connect on the short-range shot.
“We weren’t hitting our lay-ups,” said Fata, who finished with 11 points. “They just didn’t fall.”
North Salinas used an effective inside-outside combination to build up a 16-point lead midway through the third quarter and never let up.
Vikings guard Briana Matthews nearly doubled the output of any other player, pumping in 31 points that included a 9-10 performance from the free-throw line. Bina Abbott and Domonique Hill both scored 10 points for North Salinas.
San Benito was again paced by its two veterans–seniors Ari Romero and Ashley Patton. Romero enjoyed a fine all-around performance, notching team highs of 16 points and nine rebounds, while also collecting three steals and hitting 8-10 free throws. Patton anchored the ‘Balers’ defense with four steals and three blocks, in addition to her eight points and five rebounds.
With no rest for the weary in the TCAL, San Benito travels to Morgan Hill to play Live Oak tomorrow at 7pm.
“It’s not going to get any easier than this,” said Rowe, “so they’ve just got to work harder and come together as a team.”
