Cardinal Newman uses physicality to force turnovers and get easy shots to beat Justin-Siena in Christmas Classic semifinal
By Kyle Foster
Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
There are times when a team is just better than you. Buzzsaws are all over the place, it seems.
On Friday night at the Daniel J. Clark Gym, Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa proved to be a tough team, beating Justin-Siena, 68-47, in a semifinal of the Justin-Siena Christmas Classic.
The Cardinals (7-2) led the game wire to wire. They were able to quickly take control of the game after trading buckets at the start. In the first quarter, they ran off a 12-0 run to get a 16-4 lead.
Cardinal Newman also went on another 14-0 run to begin the final quarter to all but put the game away as the lead grew to 64-39 and all but put the game out of reach.
One of the main reasons why the Cardinals were able to do this was the fact that they got layups all night long.
On top of that, they also forced numerous turnovers in the game and helped grow the lead.
“I thought it started with physicality,” Justin-Siena head coach Andy Bettencourt explained as to how the game got away. “I thought Newman was just flat-out more physical than us tonight, and it led to some mistakes. They just played and executed better than we did on both ends of the floor.”
Justin-Siena (6-1) had moments where they could claw their way back and keep the game interesting. After all, the Braves ran off a 7-0 run in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 11.
They also held the Cardinals to just 10 points in the third quarter.
If there was anything good to come from this game, it’s that junior guard Dylan Zapolski put together her best game of the season to date. She finished with a team-leading 14 points and 4 rebounds. Zapolski played well in the first half where she scored 12 points. She also connected on a pair of shots from three-point range.
“That might be the best game Dylan’s played since she’s been on varsity,” Bettencourt said of the junior and how she got going after a slow start to the season. “She played without fear. She was aggressive, and we see her every day in practice, play like that, and she’s done a lot of good things. I mean, she made over 70 threes last year, and she was a first-team all-league. So clearly, she’s a good player, but she has way more in her. Tonight, I thought that was a step in the right direction.”
Finishing with a double-double in the game was Jordan Washington. After a slow start, the senior center ended the game with 13 points, 10 rebounds, and a blocked shot. Washington scored 9 points in the second half, which included a shot from beyond the arc.
“She did a better job in the second half of squaring and finishing through contact,” Bettencourt said as to why Washington got going in the second half of the game. “Newman does a really good job of contesting physically a in the first half, I think that bothered not just Jordan, a bunch of our players. I thought in the second half she did a better job. She got one or two and ones and just did a better job of finishing (around the rim).”
Also finishing in double figures was Lauren Keller. The junior finished the game with 10 points and 3 rebounds. Keller was 4 of 7 from the line and scored 6 points in the second half.
“The great thing about Lauren is we really don’t have to do anything,” Bettencourt said of Keller who is in her third year of varsity basketball. “Lauren is so steady, both just mentally and physically. We know that just leaving her in the game, she’s going to she’s going to eventually do her thing, and she did.”
Others scoring for Justin-Siena in the game were Madyson Carson (6 points, 3 rebounds), Taylor Stopello (3 points), and Caiden Grimmer (1 point, 3 rebounds).
The loss ends a strong start to the season for Justin-Siena. But this game was a measuring stick to see where they’re at and a chance to learn about what they’ve got to do better.
“I love playing good teams because they make us better, and we can hopefully learn from this,” Bettencourt pointed out. “Tomorrow, we’ve got another tough test against a good Moreau Catholic team, so we’ve got to turn around and just and get ready to gear up and go again. But we really, we love playing these type of teams because we’re going to be able to watch film, we’re going to be able to really break it down and learn from it.”
The Christmas Classic will end with four games on Saturday. The first will be the 7th-place game at 10 am as Saint Mary’s-Berkeley faces Carlmont, then at 11:30, Arcata meets Monte Vista-Danville in the consolation title.
In games on the other side of the bracket, the 3rd-place game will be Justin-Siena against Moreau Catholic-Hayward at 1 pm with the championship game being Clovis against Cardinal Newman at 2:30 pm.
It will be a quick turnaround for Justin-Siena as they won’t have much time to think about the loss.
“Best thing for us,” Bettencourt continued. “We just need to flush this game and go see if we can get a win tomorrow.”
