Justin-Siena uses huge second quarter to gain lead, tightens up defense to beat Casa Grande in VVAL Tournament semifinal
By Kyle Foster
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It is the time of year when games mean more, but it always seems to come back to defense. It will decide the games the later the season goes.
In Thursday’s Vine Valley Athletic League semifinal at Clark Gym, the No. 1 seed Justin-Siena girls beat No. 5 seed Casa Grande, 61-43.
After a tight first quarter where the game was tight, the Braves (22-5) began the frame by going on a 9-2 run, which immediately gave them a 24-15 lead. Over the final five and half minutes of the frame, they outscored the Gauchos 13-5 to go into the break up by 17.
“Honestly, I thought start on the defensive end,” Justin-Siena head coach Andy Bettencourt said of why the game changed in the second quarter. “I thought we started playing more solid. I think we had 15 points in the first quarter. That’s a pretty good quarter. So it wasn’t the offense. I thought that was the defense. We weren’t playing solid enough. We talk a lot about, you know, just fighting solid and staying in front of people. I thought the girls did a great job in the second quarter and through the rest of the game of really just playing solid defense, staying in front of people. I thought that helped change the course of the game.”
It also helped that Justin-Siena was able to use their zone to stop the Gauchos (13-15) from driving into the lane and getting good looks at the bucket. The zone forced them to take long shots and turn the ball over.
“I mean, we definitely played some possessions of zone,” Bettencourt explained. “But I thought it was just whatever defense we were in that the principles don’t change, right, what we want to do doesn’t change. So really proud of the girls for how they played defense after that first quarter.”
It was a solid game on the offensive end as well. After all, Justin-Siena had four scorers in double figures.
Leading the way in the game with a double-double of 14 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 blocked shots was Jordan Washington. The junior center scored 12 points in the first half and made both of her free throws as well.
Also scoring 14 points in the game was Dylan Zapolski. The sophomore guard made 4 shots from deep in the game. She also scored 11 points in the first half.
Having her breakout night in the contest was junior Madyson Carson. She scored 11 points off the bench and grabbed 2 rebounds. Carson had a great second half where she scored 7 points, being one of the Braves’ best offensive options down the stretch.
“Maddie has just been getting better and better and better, and we’ve seen it for about the past four or five games,” Bettencourt said of Carson who plays key minutes off the bench. “She’s really been coming on and it started with playing with more of a physicality and when she started doing that, things really started clicking for her.”
Lauren Keller was the final scorer in double digits as she finished the game with 10 points and 8 rebounds. The sophomore guard scored 6 points in the first half and made both free throws in the game as well.
Others scoring for the Braves in the game were Nadia Sousa (4 points, 2 rebounds), Paige Helms (4 points), Naveena Jackson (2 points, 13 rebounds), and Sophia Dominici (2 points).
With the win, Justin-Siena advanced to the championship game of the league tournament on Saturday at 5 pm. In that game, they’ll face third-seeded Sonoma Valley who beat No. 2 seed American Canyon 45-38 on Thursday night.
During the league season, Justin-Siena and Sonoma Valley split the series. In the most recent meeting on January 30th, Sonoma Valley edged out a 36-35 win. They also won on each other’s home court. The rubber match will be played at Napa High, a neutral site.
Bettencourt mourns the loss of prominent North Bay coach
Over the weekend, Maria Carrillo-Santa Rosa head coach Jeff Paul passed away after a battle with prostate cancer at the age of 62.
“We want to send our thoughts and prayers to the Maria Carrillo community,” Bettencourt said. “They lost coach Jeff Paul who passed away from a lengthy battle with cancer. Coach Paul was really influential personally for me, but just influential in North Bay basketball that many different schools you see wherever he goes, he went there he won. He was an incredible human being. I was fortunate enough to spend a lot of time with him just at different tournaments in the summer and during the season. Great man and really our basketball coaching fraternity, lost a great one and just all our thoughts and prayers to the Maria Carrillo community, Jeff’s family as they go through this tragedy.”
Paul was diagnosed with cancer back in 2013 and had been in remission until this past October when cancer came back.
