Sonoma Valley gains double-digit lead early behind key three-point shooting, minimizing turnovers to beat Vintage
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
If there’s one thing that’s frustrating, it’s turnovers. They will kill you, especially when the game is close.
With how tight the Vine Valley Athletic League has been this season, every mistake is magnified. So it should come as no surprise that Sonoma Valley was able to minimize mistakes as they beat Vintage, 37-31, on Tuesday night at Crusher Gym.
The Dragons (18-5 overall, 7-2 VVAL) were able to gain their advantage thanks to a strong first half. Sonoma was able to take a double-digit lead early in the game when they went on a 9-0 run that made it 12-2.
It also didn’t help that Vintage (14-10, 6-4 VVAL) committed an eye-popping 12 turnovers in the first half. Coming in, the Crushers hadn’t been committing too many turnovers. In the game, Vintage would turn the ball over a total of 22 times.
“We’ve been really clean with the ball the last four or five games, taking care of the ball,” Vintage head coach Zack Cook said of the turnovers. “Tonight, I don’t know if it was the motions of Senior Night or what but we were just throwing the ball all over the gym. We talked about it at halftime and we came out and just kept doing the same thing. With us struggling to score like we do sometimes we need every possession and when you turn it over, you can’t score in a game like this.”
Sonoma Valley also seemed to have a knack for knocking down a three-pointer at key moments. Though they only made 5 of them in the game, it always came when the momentum could be getting ready to shift.
“They hit some daggers,” Cook explained. “We’d go on a little run and then they’d knock down a three. They shot it I think a little better than I think they normally do. But that’s basketball. Sometimes teams shoot it better than they normally do.”
For a short period of time, it appeared as if Vintage was going to come back in the second half. After all, they started the third quarter on a 4-0 run that made it 24-17. In the end, they also went on another 4-0 bust to make it 36-31 with a few seconds left before the Dragons made a free-throw to go up by six.
In the second half, the Crushers also outscored Sonoma Valley 18-13 after going into the half down by 11. All season long, they’ve been a second-half team after getting off to a slow start in the first two periods.
“Not sure but I hope we can do it in the first half going forward,” Cook laughed when asked about why the team is better in the final half of play.
Vintage was led by Lizzie Qui in the contest. The senior guard finished with a team-high of 12 points while bringing in 5 rebounds. The guard scored 9 points in the second half and made all 3 free throws as well.
After Qui, the scoring was quite sparse for the Crushers. No one else finished with double figures of point totals. Those others that scored were Rachel Galvin (4 points, 4 rebounds), Grace Geitner (3 points, 12 rebounds), Kayla Cleveland (3 points, 5 rebounds), Cienna Alvarez (3 points, 4 rebounds), Ella Pridmore (2 points, 5 rebounds), Julia Gerenser (2 points, 4 rebounds), and Ellie Kennedy (2 points).
Both teams will continue VVAL action this week. Sonoma Valley will host American Canyon on Thursday night in a game that will see the winner likely be the league champion. Vintage will have the league bye on Thursday before visiting Napa in Big Game on Saturday at 1:30 PM.
In other VVAL action Tuesday night, Casa Grande edged Petaluma 29-21. You can view the updated league standings here.
Six seniors honored prior to tip-off
Before the game, Vintage honored their seven seniors of Kayla Cleveland, Rachel Galvin, Julia Gerenser, Ellie Kennedy, Sophia Notaro, and Ella Pridmore, and Lizzie Qui.
“It’s been great,” Cook said of working with the six seniors this season. “It’s been a really fun year. They’re all wonderful kids and I feel lucky to just been able to coach them the last nine months or so.”
In all, Vintage will return five players next season after losing over half their team to graduation. Next season will also be Cook’s second season back at the helm after coming over from Napa Valley College prior to this season.
