Napa Valley gets key contributions from everyone, grinds out victory against Shasta
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
Every once in a while, a weird game breaks out. It can be weird for multiple reasons. But in a strange game, there always seems to be something happening that is good for the team going forward.
This was precisely the case on Friday afternoon when the Napa Valley College women’s basketball team beat Shasta of Redding, 56-46, at Storm Gym in a game that was choppy and never really had a real rhythm to it.
While Napa Valley (8-5) controlled the contest from start to finish, they were never able to go on a large run to just put the game out of reach. That allowed Shasta (7-10) to hang around all game long.
“We controlled the game,” Napa Valley College head coach Paul DeBolt pointed out. “We just have difficulty substituting things at both ends of the floor for very long. We’ll have a nice offensive run but we’re not getting stops or we’ll get a bunch of stops and we’re not scoring. So that’s kind of what happens and basketball is a game of runs.”
In the final few minutes of the game, Rose Jamison made a pair of clutch shots from beyond the arc to not let the Knights get within 4 points, which was the closest the Knights got in the contest.
Shasta was able to stay in the game due in large part to the numerous turnovers Napa Valley committed, especially in the first frame that saw a plethora of good looks for the Storm that were either missed or the chance was botched due to the turnover bug.
The other thing that was key on the way to getting the victory was the fact that many role players stepped up when the team needed it. While they may not have led the team in scoring, they supplemented the offense. Some of these buckets and rebounds came in key times as well.
However, the role players may not have gotten their chance if DeBolt wouldn’t have been constantly juggling the lineup and the right group of players that wouldn’t turn the ball over as well.
“Everybody on this team can play,” the coach of the No. 14 ranked team in the CCCAA’s December 26th Northern Califonia poll said of the lineup juggling. “So what we were trying to do tonight was find players who weren’t going to turn the ball over and who weren’t going to send them to the free-throw line and it’s just that simple.”
Leading all scorers for Napa Valley was Jamison. The freshman finished the game with a team-high of 13 points while grabbing 7 rebounds. Jamison did the majority of her scoring in the second half where she had 9 points. She also made 3 of 6 free throws.
“She’s a really big part of making our plays and just finding the ball or finding the open player on our rotation,” Giles said of Jamison’s importance. “So she’s a really big part of that and she did a great job tonight.”
Finishing with a double-double was Brookly Giles. She finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Giles also made 4 of 7 free throw attempts as well.
“I just kept trying to attack the basket pick up my team just do what I do best,” Giles said as how she finished with a double-double. “It worked out tonight.”
Others scoring for the Storm were Amari Bennett (8 points, 2 rebounds), Addison Alsbury (7 points, 7 rebounds), Maira Montanez (6 points, 1 rebound), Mirah Jackson (5 points, 3 rebounds), Daralonie Sykes (3 points, 1 rebound), and Suraya Lloyd (2 points, 6 rebounds).
With the win, Napa Valley has now won back-to-back games after dropping their Bay Valley Conference play opener last week against Solano.
They will be back in action after the calendar changes to 2023 on Tuesday when they host Los Medanos at 7:30 PM. Before that, the men will face LMC at 5:30 PM.
