Braves gain double-digit lead in second quarter, fend off late run in victory over Napa
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
Whenever the Napa and Justin-Siena girls basketball teams face one another they’re always games that go back-and-forth.
But in Thursday night’s 51-40 victory for Justin-Siena the only separation came in the second quarter when the Braves (9-6 overall, 2-0 Vine Valley Athletic League) gained a 12-point advantage over Napa (8-7, 0-2 VVAL).
“We made some shots,” Justin-Siena coach Andrew Bettencourt said of what went right in the second quarter. “I thought defensively we tightened up a little bit, which led to some offense. But overall, I thought we did a good job with moving the ball for the most part and getting ourselves some open shots.”
“We didn’t play well,” Napa coach Darci Ward said of the second quarter. “And I thought Justin played very well, so we just weren’t matched up when we should’ve been matched up. We didn’t have our rotations, and just a lack of some focus. So, we didn’t have our night.”
Then again, the Grizzlies cut the lead down to seven in fourth quarter. It was something that Bettencourt expected to happen eventually.
“Napa started making plays,” he explained. “They’re a good team. Good teams are going to come back, so that’s what they did, and we made some plays that were questionable on our end in terms of panicking or maybe trying to go a little too fast, so we’ll have to work on that. But no, Napa’s a good team. We knew they were going to make a run, and they did.”
The Braves were led by do-it-all senior guard Ashlee Whittemore on the night. She had 24 points with six rebounds, four assists, and three steals.
“Ashlee’s if not the best, one of the best players in this league,” Bettencourt emphasized of his senior leader. “And she plays composed, she understands what she’s gotta do. She gets defenses completely focused on her, and is still able to find her spots and score and do her thing and not just score but run our team and do so many things.”
Karlie Wells added eight points and eight rebounds as well.
Napa was led by senior forward Siena Young who had 17 points and three rebounds. Carly Johnson added eight points and a rebound, while Maizy Armstrong-Brown had seven points and brought in five rebounds.
“Siena’s a great player,” Ward said of Young. “She does a lot of things and she really battled hard tonight, really worked hard, and really rebounded and then got some nice put backs.”
Justin-Siena will be back in action on Saturday when they visit Petaluma at 7 p.m. Napa, meanwhile, won’t play again till Tuesday when they host crosstown rival Vintage in the first Big Game of the season, which will also tip at 7 p.m.
