Napa Valley pulls away with huge run in first half, has five players score double-digit points in walloping of Los Medanos
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
It’s always nice when you see something from your team that you know has been there all season, but somehow just hasn’t been unleashed.
On Tuesday night’s second game at Napa Valley College, the hosts finally showed what they’re capable of doing as they routed Los Medanos of Pittsburg, 92-58, at Storm Gym.
Napa Valley (9-5 overall, 2-1 Bay Valley Conference) was able to pull away by going on a 15-0
Another thing that helped the Storm was the fact they had a great offensive output where a whopping five players scored double-digits in points.
They also went on an 8-0 burst to end the third quarter after Los Medanos (8-6, 1-1 BVC) had cut the deficit to 13.
This was something that Napa Valley head coach Paul DeBolt was thrilled to see. After all, his team has struggled to go on these types of runs this season. Part of that was that they haven’t been connecting on shots from three-point land. On Tuesday night that narrative changed, as they made 13 of them.
“I think we’ve been waiting all year to see it,” DeBolt pointed out of his team which is ranked No. 14 in the latest CCCWBCA Nothern California poll. “We’re that team where we can make threes, we just haven’t. It’s not shooting threes, anybody can shoot threes – it’s making threes. So if you can have multiple players making three-point shots in a game, then you’re gonna get those runs.”
The other key to victory was the fact that the Storm had five players score double-digit points, with two of them going for a double-double.
“I’ve been saying we have 10 college basketball players,” DeBolt said of the evenly distributed scoring. “So it shows our depth, it also shows our willingness to share the basketball, which is hard, it’s hard to know when to shoot and when not to shoot when you’re young player, and then we’re trying to bring along all of them.”
Leading the way for the hosts and finishing with a team-high of 21 points and 12 rebounds was Brookly Giles. She scored 13 points before the half while connecting on a pair of shots from three-point range. She also made all three of her shots at the free-throw line.
“I just kept trying to play my game – crash the boards, try to help my teammates, get my teammates involved,” Giles said of her nice effort and what she was doing in order to have this type of game. “When I get them involved, I feel like the ball always comes back to me somehow. So I just did my part and it worked out.”
The other player finishing with a double-double was Rose Jamison. The freshman from Rodriguez finished with 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. She exploded after the break by scoring 13 points. Jamison also made three shots from beyond the arc and made 4 of 5 foul shots.
“Rose in miss consistent for us,” DeBolt said of Jamison and what she brings on a daily basis. “She kind of brings the same thing. She’s got that kind of low-key personality. But tonight, she was ferocious.”
Suraya Lloyd finished with 16 points and brought in 5 rebounds. She made both free throws and scored 10 points before halftime.
Amaree Bennett also finished with 16 points while grabbing 4 rebounds. The sophomore guard from American Canyon connected on four three-pointers and made 2 of 4 free throws. She helped gain the early advantage by scoring 15 of her points before halftime.
The last double-digit scorer was Allyah Fernandez. She caught fire after the half where she scored all 10 points that included a pair of three-pointers.
Others scoring for Napa Valley were 2021 Napa High graduate Maizy Armstrong-Brown (8 points, 2 rebounds), and Daralonie Sykes (4 points, 1 rebound).
The Mustangs were led by Busola Ayiloge who had a game-high 23 points with a three-pointer made as well.
Other than that, Los Medanos had no one else score at least ten points.
The Mustangs will be back in action on Thursday at 7:30 PM when they host Laney of Oakland. As for Napa Valley, they will visit Laney following their bye on Saturday at 3 PM.
