Vintage pulls away in second half to beat Justin-Siena
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
It’s amazing how much can change in season with a team. The thing is it happens in sports plenty of times.
The last time the Vintage girls’ basketball team took the court at Justin-Siena, they were trying to find their groove.
In Wednesday night’s second meeting of the season, they showed how much they’ve grown by winning the rematch 52-33.
The game was close throughout the first half. However, the Crushers (5-3 overall, 5-3 Vine Valley Athletic League) asserted themselves in the second half by outsourcing their opponents 27-16 in the second half.
“I think that we stopped doing some little things on both ends of the floor,” Justin-Siena head coach Andy Bettencourt explained. “You’ve got to give them credit. They just beat us tonight. They flat-out made more shots than us. They played better than us on both ends of the floor. They beat us, they deserve credit.”
Vintage was able to have a massive second half thanks to playing team basketball, which was something they weren’t doing in the first meeting.
“Earlier in the year, we were settling for the first three-pointer that came along,” Vintage head coach Joe Donohoe said. “I’d always tell them ‘ we can always get a three-pointer. We shouldn’t shoot any threes within the first five seconds of the shot clock.’ They starting to figure it out.”
It also helped that they had two players in double figures scoring the ball. Olivia Hedberg had a game-high 17 points and added two rebounds.
“It’s just her effort. She’s playing more under control,” Donohoe added about Hedberg. “She’s a player who missed a whole season with an injury and then missed summer. So as a junior, she’s getting better fast. I’m really excited for her because she’s put in the work.”
Lizzie Qui also added 12 points and brought in five rebounds.
Leading the way on the glass with a game-high 14 rebounds was Kate Kerr. She also added four points on the night.
“She’s solid,” Donohoe said of Kerr. “I can always count on her and she makes open looks.”
The Braves (5-5, 4-3 VVAL) were led by Alyssa Curtola. She finished the night with nine points and one rebound. Isabella Wright added five points and three rebounds as well.
“Alyssa has been doing a real good job for us the last couple of weeks,” Bettencourt said of the junior guard. “Both ends of the floor. You talk about the points scored, but defensively she does a really nice job for us as well.”
League play for both teams continues on Friday night at 7 pm. Vintage will be back at home again when they host Petaluma. Meanwhile, Justin-Siena will have another local road game when they visit Napa.
In the previous meetings, Petaluma beat Vintage 46-32. Justin-Siena also beat Napa 26-18 on April 28th.
In other league games on Wednesday night, Petaluma beat Sonoma Valley 38-37. Casa Grande also beat Napa 38-35.
