Justin-Siena sets tone with strong defense, opens up offense in second half to beat Saint Mary’s in a slugfest
By Kyle Foster
Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
There are some games throughout the year that you just need to slug it out and find a way to win. Winning in a not-so-pretty fashion is still a win, after all.
On Tuesday night at the Dan Clark Gym, this is what the Justin-Siena girls basketball team did as they beat a tough Saint Mary’s of Berkeley team, 54-48, in an early season non-league matchup.
While Justin-Siena (2-0) could never pull away and put the game out of reach, they did a good job of always staying at arm’s length with the lead. One of the reasons for this was they won the first three quarters despite never going on a big run to take a 41-28 lead at that point in the game.
“I thought we did a good job through the first three quarters of winning those quarters,” Justin-Siena head coach Andy Bettencourt said. “Having a 13-point lead against a good team after three quarters really was where we wanted to be.”
The Braves also did a good job in that span of playing strong defense and limiting Saint Mary’s (0-2) to just one shot in pretty much every possession. They were able to gain a 45-30 lead for their largest lead of the game because of this defense.
“Something we’ve been really working hard on is setting the tone with our defense, and I thought our kids did a really good job of that through most of the game,” Bettencourt said of the strong defense his squad played in the game. “Like I said earlier, they started to get to us in the fourth quarter and get by us a little too much. But we work a lot on it, and our kids take a lot of pride in it. I thought (it) definitely set the tone early.”
However, this changed in the final period when the Panthers got to within four points, which was the closest they got in the game.
Justin-Siena also left a good amount of points on the court in this game too. This comes after a bunch of shots were missed throughout that game that would’ve ran the lead to be larger throughout the game.
“Especially in the first couple quarters, I thought we were doing a really good job on offense of getting good shots, and unfortunately, they weren’t going in,” Bettencourt explained. “I think we rushed them a little bit. I didn’t think we were finishing our shots like we usually do. So we’ve definitely got to work on when a team is trying to speed us up, that we still have to stay in our rhythm and our pace, which we could have done better throughout the game.”
It also helped that they had a few scorers step up when it mattered. Leading Justin-Siena for the second-straight game to begin the season in scoring was Lauren Keller. Following a game where she set her career high on Saturday, the junior guard led the Braves with 18 points and 7 rebounds.
Keller had 11 points in the second half of the game and made 3 of 6 shots from the free-throw line in the game.
“She’s taken a big step forward,” Bettencourt pointed about the junior guard. “She’s confident. I think she understands who she is and the things she can do on the floor, and she attacks with purpose. She’s shooting more outside shots, which is helping her game.
Also chipping in with her normal double-double effort was Jordan Washington. The reigning All-County Player of the Year finished with 15 points, 16 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots in the game. She’s really been phenomenal to start the season for us.”
Washington also did most of her scoring in the second half where she scored 11 points. In the game, she converted on 7 of 8 shots from the line.
“Jordan’s just a really good player,” Bettencourt said of the senior who is in her fourth year on varsity. “It’s why she’s being recruited because she’s a really good player. I actually thought she left some points out there tonight. And I think she would tell you the same thing, and to be able to leave points out there and still have a double-double just shows you the type of player she is. She brings so much to the table for us and hitting those free throws late was huge.”
Others scoring for the Braves in the game were Naveena Jackson (8 points, 4 rebounds), Madyson Carson (5 points, 5 rebounds, blocked shot), Sophia Dominici (5 points, 1 rebound), Caiden Grimmer (2 points), and Dylan Zapolski (1 point, 4 rebounds, blocked shot).
This contest is just another one of a series of crazy games these two teams have played, whether in the playoffs or the non-league portion of the season.
“Look, they’re a good, well-coached, tough team, and they’re going to bring it every time,” Bettencourt explained. “We know that. I think we’re a good basketball team, and we’re going to bring it every time. So when you have two good teams matching up, things are gonna get close and that’s what happened.”
Justin-Siena will now have nine days off before beginning the Redwood Empire Invitational Basketball Tournament (REIBT) in Healdsbrug in December 12th at 5 pm when they face Middletown. This will be the 75th edition of the event.
