Shasta uses massive second quarter to gain advantage, hold on to beat Napa Valley in defensive battle
By Kyle Foster
Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
Losing games you feel are winnable sucks. Sometimes it’s just a potent combination of bad things coming together, which happens.
On Monday afternoon at Storm Gym, Shasta-Redding beat Napa Valley, 59-55, in a back-and-forth nonconference game.
The Knights (9-8) took control of the game in the second quarter when they outscored Napa 23-9. During this period, the game snowballed from being one where NVC was in firm control to trailing 27-21. The Storm also had a hard time getting anything going on offense in the period, which has been something that has killed them all season so far.
“We get a little impatient. I think that’s part of it,” Napa Valley College head coach Paul DeBolt explained of the second quarter woes so far this season and why they struggle in that quarter. “I think that’s part of it. We take quick shots and that makes it easier on the defense. We’re not making them work as much. It gets us kind of out of the rhythm.”
It also didn’t help that Shasta was getting tons of easy looks around the rim, which they cashed in on in the game. Some of these also came from Storm turnovers, which only compounded matters.
One of the main beneficiaries of all of the looks around the rim for Shasta was Bailey Matos. She finished with a game-leading 20 points. She did it in numerous different ways in the game but started off with a trio of threes in the first half and then started to score in the paint more as the game went on.
“She can make baskets,” DeBolt said of Matos and her impact on the game. “We mixed up our defenses. We lost her a couple (of) times.”
Napa Valley (5-9) had plenty of chances to win the game. After all, they began the game by going on a 7-0 run to begin the game. In that period, it took almost seven minutes before Shasta scored a bucket.
Then, in the fourth quarter, they were able to get to within a point down 56-55. But in that instance, they were unable to overcome and get over the hump. It also didn’t help that they left a ton of points on the floor in the game. Nowhere was this more true than when you look at the fact that they went just 9 of 17 from the line as a team in the game.
However, they were led in the game by Arianna Aguilar. The freshman shooter finished with a game-high of 20 points and corralled 5 rebounds. She scored 12 points in the second half and made 6 shots from downtown in the game.
“She’s getting her rhythm,” DeBolt pointed out. “Her teammates are starting to look for her. You know, they’re double-teaming Rose (Jamison). So they’re running two people at Rose when she catches the ball the whole game. Somebody’s going to be open, and if the ball moves, then it was Ari for a lot of it tonight. I thought we did a good job in the second half of finding her. She made a couple (of) deep threes. She’s made a couple really clutch threes, and I think her teammates starting to have more confidence in her.”
Also having a nice game was Jazmine Fontilla. She finished with 16 points and brought in 8 rebounds in the game. Fontilla scored 10 points in the first half and went 2 of 3 from the free-throw line. She also did most of her damage around the rim as she scored 14 of her points from inside the three-point line.
“That defense, they were in a 3-2 matchup zone,” DeBolt added. “It’s got holes in it. If you get through the initial part of it, you’re gonna have some mid-range stuff, some 12 to 15-foot shots. (If) somebody comes out on you hard, you can get to the basket. So Jazmine does a good job of making decisions around there.”
The Storm’s trio of scores in double figures was rounded out by Rose Jamison. She finished with a double-double of 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 blocked shots. She scored all her points in the second half and went 6 of 10 from the line.
Others scoring for Napa Valley in the game were Marticia Pollard (4 points, 12 rebounds), Ashley Torres (3 points, 5 rebounds), and Teira Greenwood (2 points, 1 rebound).
Napa Valey will be back in action on Thursday night when they host Mendocino-Ukiah at 7:30 pm in their first home game of Bay Valley Conference play.
