Sonoma Valley goes on third quarter run by being more physical to hand Justin-Siena first league loss
By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Eric Thompson (Shamboozled.com)
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There are times when sports are just crazy. Often, this happens in rivalry games. It gets overlooked but there is a great rivalry going on between Sonoma Valley and Justin-Siena.
On Tuesday night at Clark Gym, this was the case when the Sonoma Valley girls beat Justin-Siena in a Vine Valley Athletic League heavyweight title fight, 36-35.
Before this, the game changed in the third quarter when Sonoma Valley held Justin-Siena scoreless in the frame. They also outscored them 11-0, to take a 24-22 lead.
“I think the third quarter was the difference,” Justin-Siena head coach Andy Bettencourt explained. “We just could not find a way to score and that killed us.”
Entering the game’s final seconds, it looked as if the Braves were going to win after Lauren Keller stole the inbound and was fouled with 12.5 seconds left and made a free-throw to give them a 35-34 lead.
On the ensuing play after a timeout, the Dragons (18-6, 8-2 VVAL) won the game with just 2.5 seconds left when Siena Hoban took the ball the length of the court weaving in between the press to finish with a layup to get the lead and end the game. However, the Braves (20-4, 9-1 VVAL) had a pair of fouls to give and were unable to do so before Hoban got the shot off. Fouling twice would’ve forced Sonoma Valley to inbound a few more times and also take some more time off the clock.
“We tried to foul, thought we fouled, but it wasn’t called, so we did not foul,” Bettencourt said of the game’s final sequence. “We need to do a better job of making the foul clearer in the future.”
The Dragons were also the more physical team throughout the game, which took the Braves out of their game. It also created a lot of turnovers, limiting the offensive firepower to get going.
“I thought their pressure really affected us in the second and third quarters,” Bettencourt said as to why the offense slowed down. “They were physical and dominated us defensively. It felt like we couldn’t do anything against their pressure for a long period of the game.”
Leading Sonoma Valley in the game was Hoban. The senior guard finished with a team-high of 10 points. Hoban scored 9 points in the second half and made 1 of 3 free throws.
Others scoring for Sonoma in the game were Alice Turner (8 points), Presley Sorenson (7 points), Destiny Tapia (5 points), Trinity Wilkens (2 points), Kelsey Bauer (2 points), and Lani Delorefice (2 points).
Justin-Siena was in control for a long time in this game. After all, they gained a 17-7 lead after a quarter after going on a 5-0 burst to get a double-digit lead. This was also their best quarter as well.
Leading the Braves in the game was Keller. The sophomore finished with a game-leading 15 points and 5 rebounds. She scored 9 points in the second half while making 9 of 14 free throws as well.
“Lauren did a great job of attacking and countering their physicality with her own,” Bettencourt said of the sophomore. “She was huge for us down the stretch and continues to get better and better.”
Other than Keller, the Braves didn’t have another scorer in double figures. Rounding out the scoring for them were Jordan Washington (5 points, 11 rebounds, 2 blocked shots), Sophia Dominici (5 points, 5 rebounds, blocked shot), Neveena Jackson (3 points, 6 rebounds, blocked shot), Dylan Zapolski (3 points, 2 rebounds, blocked shot), Madyson Carson (2 points, 1 rebound), and Nadia Sousa (2 points, 1 rebound).
It also hurt that the normally good free-throwing Braves went 12 of 20 at the line in the game. A few more makes could’ve changed the result.
The result also means that the league title will have to wait at least another game. A win would have clinched the league title. But now they have to win out to clinch the league title.
They will continue league play on Thursday night at 5:30 at Petaluma before ending the season on Saturday night at American Canyon. American Canyon beat Petaluma 66-40 on Tuesday night. Justin-Siena would have to lose out and Sonoma win out to lose the league championship.
Sonoma Valley will round out the season by hosting Casa Grande on Thursday and visiting Napa on Saturday night, both at 5:30.
