Justin-Siena ramps up defensive intensity in second half to beat Vintage
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
Over the first three seasons of Vine Valley Athletic League girls basketball, the Vintage-Justin-Siena matchup has always been a healthy rivalry that has featured many extremely close games that were won by Vintage.
After all, the Braves entered the game with an 0-5 record against their Trower Avenue rivals dating back to the 2018-19 season, which was the first year of the VVAL. The losing streak also dates back to the 2017-18 season when the two teams met in the non-league portion of the schedule.
On Friday night, Justin-Siena was finally able to put one in the win column thanks to their 38-32 win against those Crushers. It was Justin-Siena head coach Andy Bettencourt’s first win at the varsity level against Vintage.
“Honestly, I think it’s a really big win for us,” Justin-Siena junior forward Isabella Wright said of the game that is also her first time being on the winning end against Vintage. “Through the second half, we just wanted it more.”
The game was close throughout, but the Braves (2-1 overall, 2-1 Vine Valley Athletic League) were able to gain the edge in the second half thanks to their defensive intensity.
“I thought the defensive intensity was really good,” Bettencourt said as to what helped gain the advantage in the second half. “We were able to keep them in front, keep them off the boards for the most part. It starts with offense too, not giving them turnovers so that they can get out and fast break. They did get that towards the end of the game, which hurt us a little bit.”
“We’re playing like a young team,” Vintage head coach Joe Donohoe explained. “We just got done with the table of contents with this story. This group’s never played before. I’m not making any excuses, but it takes time. We’re doing things that young teams do. Although, we’re getting in foul trouble. Everybody was in foul trouble, both teams. But we didn’t take care of the ball very well, we missed some free throws and those things end up costing you in close games and we’re getting better at it.”
In the first half, Vintage (1-2, 1-2 VVAL) appeared to be gaining an edge thanks to their full-court and half-court trap that led to many turnovers by Justin-Siena.
“The pressure definitely affects us a little bit,” Bettencourt explained.
Leading the way for Justin-Siena was Wright. She ended the night with a game-high 15 points and brought in eight rebounds, which was a team-high.
“I went for it and I was confident,” Wright said of her solid night. “My confidence boosted as well.”
“She’s a beast,” Donohoe explained. “I felt like we did a pretty good job on her.”
“Bella made some good plays,” Bettencourt added. “It’s always a good night when she gets a three. But I was most impressed with her free-throw shooting. She’s been working on it and hasn’t had the best luck the first two nights, but she really focused up and made some big free throws for us tonight.”
Mary Huen added nine points, most of which came from the free-throw line. She ended the night going 7 of 8 from the charity stripe and added in a two-point field goal while also bringing in two rebounds.
Meanwhile, Vintage was led by junior forward Eden Wood who ended the night with a double-double. She had 12 points and a game-high 15 rebounds on the night.
“She just keeps after it,” Donohoe said of Wood. “I love coaching that kid. She’s relentless.”
Justin-Siena won’t have much time to enjoy the victory since they’ll be back in action on Saturday at 12:30 pm. Their next league game will be Wednesday night at 7 pm when they host Napa. As for Vintage, they will be on the road again next Wednesday when they head to Petaluma to face Petaluma.
In other VVAL games Friday night, Casa Grande beat Napa 49-28 and Petaluma beat Sonoma Valley 44-29.
