Vintage uses strong defense and fast-break buckets to beat Rancho Cotate and punch ticket to consolation championship game in Wine Valley
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
During a season, there will be times when it seems like nothing will go right and according to plan.
However, if you can find a way to battle through and that come away with a victory in what was an off night, that is something that is key to having a good year.
On Friday night at the Wine Valley Tournament, the Vintage girls’ basketball team had to do this as they beat Rancho Cotate-Rohnert Park, 42-22, to advance to the consolation championship game on Saturday at 9:30 am at Napa’s Messner Gym.
Vintage was locked in a battle for the majority of the game with buckets hard to come by. Where they were able to gain an edge was in the second quarter, where they played lock-down defense and allowed the Cougars (2-7) to score just one bucket over the duration of the 8-minute period. In that time, they also scored 12 points of their own, which was how they gained an edge needed to hang onto and maintain the rest of the way.
“We just changed our defense a little bit, started getting some deflections and some steals, and you know, bothering their guards a little bit,” Vintage head coach Zack Cook said as to what changed in the second quarter where the Crushers jumped out to a larger lead. “So that helped.”
Before that, the Crushers (5-3) started fast initially by gaining a slight 4-2 edge on the heels of a pair of fast break layups by Rachel Galvin. From then on, the rest of the quarter saw Vintage score just one more bucket and give up four points with a 6-6 score at the end of it all.
“Well, we showed up not ready to play and I think we thought Rancho Cotate was just going to lay down and give us the game,” Cook explained of the sluggish start to the game where his team could only muster 6 points. “It took us about a quarter to get ourselves going and realize that we needed to play better.”
The main reason the Crushers were able to stay at least an arms-length away was the fact that they got a lot of points in transition. They forced the Cougars into turnovers, which led to the fast break chances.
“That helped a lot,” Cook said of scoring in transition. “We were struggling in the half-court. We had very poor ball movement. We weren’t moving the ball, a lot of standing. So the transition points were huge for us tonight.”
It also helped that they could lean on their senior leadership as well when it mattered. Leading the way was Lizzie Qui. She ended the night with a game-high 15 points and grabbed three rebounds. Qui scored 8 of her points in the second half while also making 3 of 5 free throws.
The only other double-digit scorer was Galvin. She scored 12 points in the game and grabbed a team-high six rebounds. She did the majority of her scoring in the first half where she scored 8 points. Galvin also made 2 of 4 shots from the line.
“We go as they go,” Cook said of the impact of the seniors who led the game in scoring.
“So when Lizzie and Rachel are playing well, offensively and getting in getting after it on defense, that usually leads to success for our team. We expect that from them every night.”
Others adding to the Vintage scoring were Ella Pridmore (6 points, 3 rebounds), Cienna Alvarez (5 points, 5 rebounds), Natalie Russell (2 points, 5 rebounds), Ellie Kennedy (2 points), and Grace Geitner (1 point, 3 rebounds).
The Crushers will meet Tracy in the consolation championship on Saturday morning to conclude the tournament.
Napa plays a tight first quarter and falters the rest of the way in loss to Tracy
In the opening game of the day, Tracy beat the hosts 56-15.
While the score was lopsided, Napa (1-6) was able to take some positives from the game.
The Grizzlies actually played a solid first quarter. Initially, they were able to jump out to a 7-4 lead due in large part to their full-court press causing the Bulldogs (5-5) some trouble and also leading to the easiest buckets to score points – layups.
Napa was able to use their 2-3 zone effectively to hinder Tracy’s shots from outside and hang around.
Maybe the biggest thing was the point output. In the opener, they scored just 5 points in the game. While 15 certainly isn’t enough to win a game, the increased offense is at least something they can take into the seventh-place game against Rancho Cotate for the seventh-place game on Saturday morning at 8 am.
However, the rest of the way Napa scored just 8 points. But with a young team, it will take a lot of baby steps.
Leading the scoring for the Grizzlies was Ellie Gibson. The freshman finished with 4 points and 4 rebounds in the game.
After that, Joy Bradbury made a three-pointer for her only points of the game but grabbed a team-high 9 rebounds. Isabella Jasso-Nelson (2 points, 5 rebounds), Lily Gonzalez (2 points, 3 rebounds), Jemma Ceja-Delgado (2 points, 2 rebounds), and Wendy Martinez (2 points, 2 rebounds) rounded out the rest of the hosts’ scoring.
The third-place game of the tournament will be at 11 am between Mission San Jose of Fremont and Rodriguez of Cordelia with the championship game of Northgate-Walnut Creek vs Alhambra-Martinez afterward at 12:30 pm.
