Justin-Siena makes huge second half comeback to beat Sonoma Valley in thriller on Senior Night
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
It’s always nice to end the season on a high note.
However, the Justin-Siena girls basketball team couldn’t have gone out from the spring 2021 season in a more exciting way.
They beat Sonoma Valley 40-36 after trailing by 12 at the half. At one point, they trailed by 14 points. This also isn’t the first time they’ve made a huge comeback in the second half to get a win. In their home-opener on April 21st, they came back to beat American Canyon 42-39.
“We felt like in the first half, we actually played better than the score reflected,” Justin-Siena head coach Andy Bettencourt pointed out. “Our halftime was short. We told the girls to stick with what they were doing, made a few minor tweaks in terms of things that we thought we could do better. But this is all about the kids tonight, those kids played their butts off. They competed for every second of that game. They never gave up and we’re just incredibly proud of them.”
Part of the reason the Braves (7-7 overall, 6-5 Vine Valley Athletic League) were down by double-digits early on was that they were getting good shots that just weren’t going through the net.
“We felt like we could play a little bit better offensively. But we also thought that we had just run into missing some shots, which was really unfortunate,” Bettencourt said of the first half. “Again, I think that our effort on both ends of the floor was incredible throughout, and the kids just made extra effort plays in the second half, which really turned the game around.”
Also, in the first half, Sonoma Valley (3-9, 3-7 VVAL) got many points off of layups.
“(Assistant) coach (Megan) Dominici always says, ‘get in a stance’ and I really think we did that,” Justin-Siena senior Lexi Rosenbrand said. “We got a stance, got our heads in the game. Just played our hearts out for one last time.”
The second half was a completely different story for Justin-Siena. In the second half, they outscored Sonoma 31-15. Part of the reason that was the case was due to their defense, which was forcing a lot of turnovers.
“We started making some big plays defensively,” Bettencourt explained. “I thought what we did was we turned them over a few more times, defensively. That’s at least what it felt like. Then, we were able to turn that into some easy baskets and some transition opportunities.”
It also helped that the Braves had two players finish the night with double-digit points.
Leading the way was Alyssa Curtola. The junior guard finished the game with 12 points and two rebounds. She also concerted 5 of her 6 free throws on the night as well.
“Alyssa was incredible,” Bettencourt said of the junior. “She was incredible. She got beat up a lot, but she kept coming back like she always does, and I’m really proud of her.”
Charmaine Griffin added 11 points as well. She converted 2 of the 3 shots from the free-throw line as well.
“Alyssa and Charmaine are fire on the court,” Rosenbrand explained. “They are insane. They’re always in the right spot. They’re always had their hands up. They’re always getting steals, playing their hearts out the entire game. Alyssa is amazing. She’s getting steals all across the court. She made some really good shots tight that we needed her to make. Charmaine exact same thing. We just communicated and played like a team.”
Isabella Wright and Mary Huen led the team on the glass by each grabbing six rebounds. Wright scored seven points on 3 of 5 free-throw shooting. Huen finished with three points – all on free throws. In all, Huen had five free throws on the night.
This was the final game for both teams. The rest of the league schedule will conclude on Wednesday night.
The win also sends Seniors Isabelle Wells, Samai Wilson, Lili Galambos, and Rosenbrand out on a good note.
“It was really nice to go out there with a bang and finish off the season great,” Rosenbrand said of winning her final game. “It’s definitely a very memorable way to end the season. I’m so proud of each and every one of my teammates. We really pulled through this game and played like a team and we couldn’t have done it without anyone.”
Due to basketball being played so late in the year, Justin-Siena will have just a two-week break until they start summer activities.
“We’ll start up in two weeks actually practicing again in the Summer season,” Bettencourt said as to what’s next. “Then, we’ll go to a couple tournaments and we’ll get started with next year’s group because we’re excited to get going. So give him a couple of weeks off and then get rolling again.”
