Justin-Siena uses huge first half, good games from duo of Washington and Keller to beat Lower Lake in playoff opener
By Kyle Foster
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There are times when a game can start weird. But eventually, the cream rises to the top and the better team prevails.
In Wednesday night’s CIF North Coast Section Division 4 playoff opener at Clark Gym, this was the case for the No. 3 seed Justin-Siena girls who beat No. 14 Lower Lake, 57-28.
The Braves (24-5) took control of the game in the first quarter. After a slow start, they went on a 15-0 run that gave them a 17-5 lead. It helped that they were able to start making shots during this time.
“I thought early on, we actually were doing okay,” Justin-Siena head coach Andy Bettencourt explained of the slow start. “I thought we made a couple of mistakes defensively. Offensively shots weren’t falling.”
In the second quarter, Justin-Siena put the game away when they went on an 11-0 run that gave them a 28-7 lead. They then finished the frame going on one more massive 12-1 run that gave them a 40-8 lead at the break.
“We felt coming in that we could pressure them,” Bettencourt said of the defensive gameplan. “So we really tried to extend our pressure out, and then get to help, and I thought the kids did a great job of executing that. We slipped up a few times and fouled a little bit more than we would’ve liked. But overall, I thought the kids did a great job of taking away the driving lanes, but also pressuring the ball and forcing mistakes.”
One of the reasons they were able to do this was the fact that they played suffocating defense, which also forced a lot of turnovers and easy layups as well.
“From the start of the game, we always had a plan of going out there and pressuring the ball and being aggressive as possible, and we kind of live by that,” Justin-Siena sophomore guard Lauren Keller explained. “So going out there, we just made a deal to stay on our man and bring the energy and the energy definitely helped.”
Leading the way for the Braves in the game was Jordan Washington. The junior center finished with a game-high of 19 points, 10 rebounds, and a blocked shot for a double-double in the game.
Washington scored 17 points in the first half and 9 in the second quarter. She also made a pair of shots from the three-point line and made 3 of 4 free throws in the game.
In the game, Keller finished with 18 points and 4 rebounds. The sophomore guard scored 10 points in the second quarter and finished the first half with 14 points. She also made one shot from deep while going 5 of 7 from the free-throw line.
“I just came out there with confidence,” said Keller who was a first-team all-VVAL selection. “When the shots weren’t falling, I had a goal to just kind of take over with the shot selection that I can shoot with. I feel like I just came more confident with the ball so that definitely helped. Once they started going in, it brought more confidence and then I kept going.”
Others scoring in the game for Justin-Siena were Naveena Jackson (6 points, 4 rebounds), Dylan Zapolski (4 points, 3 rebounds), Nadia Sousa (3 points), Kayden Coloma (3 points), Paige Helms (2 points, 3 rebounds), and Angela Adiz (2 points).
The win was a long time coming as well. After all, it’s the first one for the program since 2015.
“It feels great,” Bettencourt said of getting a much-needed playoff victory. “It’s been a long time coming. These kids have worked really hard. But I think if I look back, this started a couple years ago with just a change in attitude and culture in our program, which a lot of that credit goes to our assistant coaches and some former players that really helped set the tone and this current group has taken it forward. They’ve worked so hard, they’ve earned this. The 24-5 record speaks for itself and they’ve just done a heck of a job.”
It was also the first playoff victory for Keller as well after they were bounced in the first round last season.
“Last year, we had a deviating loss against Saint Mary’s away,” Keller pointed out. “So it was really nice to come out with a win and just get past where we were last year.”
Lower Lake (13-14) kept the game from going to the running clock in the fourth quarter thanks to a strong third quarter. In that frame, they outscored Justin-Siena 19-10. They also made five shots from beyond the arc in the quarter. Part of it is also the fact that Justin-Siena had a huge lead and they let off the gas too.
“I think sometimes it’s us being a victim of our own success,” Bettencourt said of the third quarter where teams have been better against them this season. “Oftentimes, those third-quarter runs don’t come when it’s tied, right? We’re usually up double digits so sometimes there can be a letdown. It’s something that we’re not happy about. I know the kids aren’t happy about it. So it’s something we got to we got to fix. We’ve got to understand that that’s actually an opportunity to finish the game, and not allow a team to get back into it.”
In the third quarter, senior Tiahna Tubbs also scored her 1,000th point in her career on the way to finishing with a team-high of 14 points. Coming in, the Braves focused on slowing her down as well.
“We just wanted to pressure her,” Bettencourt explained. “We wanted to throw different defenders at her. I thought the defenders that played on her did a really good job and our whole team did a good job of understanding. So yeah, it definitely was something. You always want to try to limit what the other team does best.”
Others scoring for the Trojans in the game were Ayla Ales (5 points), Serenity McCoy (4 points), Brooke Benson (3 points), and Kahya Cheney (2 points).
The Braves will be back in action on Saturday at 5:30 pm when they host Healdsburg. On Wednesday, No. 6 Healdsburg (27-2) beat No. 11 Middletown 36-34. This will be a double-header with the No. 1 seed Justin-Siena boys hosting No. 9 Kelseyville at 7 pm.
You can view the updated CIF North Coast Section Division 4 girls bracket here.
