Whittemore scores 1,500th point in Justin-Siena’s win over Petaluma
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
Ashlee Whittemore has done a lot in her time playing basketball at Justin-Siena.
In Tuesday night’s 42-37 win over Petaluma she accomplished one more thing in her great four-year career on the varsity squad as she scored career point number 1,500.
“It’s kinda weird because it doesn’t feel like that long ago that I was a freshman, so it feels kinda real that it’s my last year playing for Justin,” Whittemore said of the accomplishment. “It’s kinda surreal, I guess, but it’s kind of cool.”
“It’s awesome because and I’ve said this since Ashlee’s been here she’s a great player and she’s a better kid, so (I) couldn’t be happier for her as an individual to achieve that record,” Justin-Siena coach Andrew Bettencourt said of Whittemore’s accomplishment. “But it speaks to the team too. You know be unselfish and understand that Ashlee is going to score a lot of points for us, and that’s hard for some people to accept. But our teams done a great job of it over the years. Ashlee’s a phenomenal player and scorer, and I’m just really happy for her.”
At halftime the Braves (12-10 overall, 4-4 Vine Valley Athletic League) only led by a point, but to begin the second half Whittemore scored 11 of her team’s 17 points in the third quarter. Whittemore ended the night with 22 points and six rebounds.
“It was,” said Bettencourt of how cool Whittemore’s 11-point third quarter was. “It’s fun to be in the gym when she gets going like that, and fortunately for me I’ve had a front row seat for four years and I’ve seen her do it quite a bit. I’m never surprised by it, but it’s still so much fun to watch and it’s obviously a lift to our whole team.”
“I think in the locker room at halftime we kind of talked and slowed down and started thinking about gameplans and stuff,” Whittemore explained as to how she caught fire out of the break. “My team was giving me great passes and great screens and everything started clicking from there.”
In the fourth quarter the Trojans (9-12, 1-6 VVAL) cut into the Braves lead, but could never get over the hump and take the lead.
“They increased their pressure,” Bettencourt explained. “Petaluma is a well coached, good team. They’ve been on the short end of a lot of close games for them unfortunately again tonight, but their record doesn’t reflect how good they are. And they picked up the pressure, they were changing defenses on us and they played a zone and that really got to us a little bit I think.”
Other key contributors for Justin-Siena on the night were freshman forward Isabella Wright and sophomore forward Lexi Rosenbrand.
Wright had ten points and brought in six rebounds.
“Bella has really emerged over the past couple weeks, and it’s from effort, working hard at practice, and her confidence is growing,” Bettencourt said of Wright’s solid night.
Rosenbrand had six points to go along with five rebounds.
“I thought she was incredible tonight,” Bettencourt explained of Rosenbrand’s importance in the game. “She was a spark plug for us, and we do not win that game without her.”
Both teams will play their next games on Thursday night at 7 p.m. Petaluma will will return to Napa for a matchup at Vintage. As for Justin-Siena, they’ll visit crosstown rival Napa who they beat 51-40 on January 3rd.
“Rivalry game, and again another well coached team,” Bettencourt said of the matchup with Napa. “Darci’s been doing it for a long time and doing it well, so we know going into that game that they’re going to be ready for us. Our goal is to get to practice tomorrow and prepare for what’s essentially a playoff game on the road.”
“Intensity,” said Whittemore of what she’s expecting when they face Napa. “I think Napa’s a great team. We’ve played them a lot. They’re a crosstown rival. It’s just going to be intense, but they respect us, we respect them. It’s just going to be a battle.
