Vintage fights back in first quarter, goes on run out of break to beat Justin-Siena
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
As the season winds down, it seems like winning league games is getting harder. Part of the reason is that everyone is so evenly matched.
So it should come as no surprise that when Justin-Siena and Vintage met on Thursday night at Crusher Gym that the game was of the utmost importance.
In the end, the Crushers beat the Braves, 39-24, to end their two-game losing streak and move to 13-9 overall with a 5-3 record in the Vine Valley Athletic League.
Vintage gained a double-digit lead early in the second half when they went on an 8-2 run that gave them a 31-18 lead midway through the third quarter. It was a lead they wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the way.
“We had a lot of foul trouble early, so we just went to that zone to try to protect a few players and not send them to the line too much,” Vintage head coach Zack Cook said of the run out of the break. “Luckily, it helped us out tonight.”
Before that, the Crushers had to fight back after being down early on in the first quarter. They outscored Justin-Siena 10-0 to end the first quarter to lead 12-8.
Another thing that helped Vintage was the fact that Lizzie Qui had a solid night. The senior guard finished with a game-high of 12 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. Qui also made 1 of 5 free throws in the game as well.
“I just had the mindset of attacking the rim more,” Qui said of her game where she led all scorers. “If I can’t get shots inside, I need to go in and either dish it out or get shots for me and that’s kind of the mindset I had going in.”
Qui was able to score the majority of her points in the first half. In the first half, she scored 9 points — all of them coming in the second quarter.
“She just had one of her hot streaks,” Cook said of the second quarter where Qui started making shots. She’s a streaky shooter and when she gets hot she gets hot and that makes our offense our whole offense look a lot better. We’ve struggled to score a lot this year so when she can get things going it definitely helps. I think (to) get other players going and kind of opens things up more for other players.”
Also having a good game was Grace Geitner. The freshman center finished as the team’s second-highest scorer with 8 points and 8 rebounds, with a blocked shot. She scored 4 points in each half and had to maneuver through being in foul trouble all night.
Others scoring for the Crushers were Julia Gerenser (6 points, 3 rebounds), Kayla Cleveland (5 points, 3 rebounds), Cienna Alvarez (4 points, 6 rebounds), Ella Pridmore (3 points, 3 rebounds), and Rachel Galvin (2 points, 4 rebounds).
Justin-Siena (10-11, 4-4 VVAL) started the game well. After all, they held an 8-2 lead early in the first quarter and had the momentum.
“I thought we attacked well,” Justin-Siena head coach Andy Bettencourt explained. “Obviously, getting them into foul trouble really helped. I thought we really did a nice job of getting to the rim, drawing fouls, and making some free throws and defensively I thought we did a good job too.”
Leading the way on offense for the Braves was Jordan Washington. She finished with a team-high of 11 points, brought down 11 rebounds, and blocked 3 shots. She scored 8 points in the first half and went 9 of 12 from the free-throw line on her way to the double-double night.
“I thought they did a great job on Jordan,” Bettencourt pointed out. “I thought she had to earn everything she got. They contested her well at the rim and unfortunately, while she ended with 11 (points), I know she’d tell you that she feels like she could have gotten more.”
Others scoring for Justin-Siena were Mary Heun (6 points, 1 rebound), Emery Messenger (5 points, 9 rebounds), and Lauren Keller (2 points, 5 rebounds).
The loss means the Braves have now lost their last two games. In order to qualify for the four-team conference tournament, they will need to start playing some better basketball.
“We’re 4-4 (in league), which means we’re mediocre,” Bettencourt said of the skid lately. “That’s what our record says we are. We need to find a way to go on a run. It starts with the basics back at practice and the belief that we can do it.”
Both teams will continue league play on Saturday night at 7 PM. Vintage will visit Petaluma while Justin-Siena will host Napa.
In the last meetings on January 10th, Justin-Siena beat Napa 54-7 and Vintage beat Petaluma 49-26.
Other VVAL games on Thursday night saw Casa Grande beat Napa 64-14 and Sonoma Valley beat Petaluma 45-20.
Schools team up to honor Alaina Housley
In warmups prior to the game, both schools wore shirts that said “2 schools, 1 Voice: Alaina’s” to honor Alaina Housley.
January 26th has been Alaina’s Voice Day on the Vintage campus and Napa community to spread the message of kindness. The Trower Avenue schools also collaborated on events in the past when they did a canned food drive.
