Monster first half led by strong defensive effort and even scoring leads Justin-Siena past Casa Grande
By Kyle Foster
Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
There are many times throughout a season when a good team needs to do what they should do and win with a statement. But handling your business is as much a part of it as anything if you’ve got bigger aspirations.
On Thursday night at the Daniel J. Clark Gym, this is what Justin-Siena did as they rolled to a 56-16 Vine Valley Athletic League victory over Casa Grande-Petaluma.
The Braves (11-2 overall, 2-0 VVAL) were able to take the game over in the first half when they went on a huge 23-0 run that spanned two quarters. It all started on defense as they forced numerous turnovers.
Before that, they were in control right from the start when they started the game on a 7-0 run to shift the momentum right away.
“Honestly, we talk constantly about our defense being the base of everything that we do,” Justin-Siena head coach Andy Bettencourt said of the importance of playing strong defense and how it is at the heart of everything they do. “So we bring an understanding with our players. We drill it every day that our defensive intensity and energy is going to lead to everything else that we do. So that was definitely something we saw tonight and something that we really try to emphasize.”
In the game, Justin-Siena was led by senior forward Naveena Jackson. She finished with a game-leading 12 points and brought in 2 rebounds. Jackson also scored 6 points in each half and was perfect 4 of 4 from the line in the game.
“Naveena is so much better than I think she even realizes,” Bettencourt explained. “She is so athletic. She understands the game. She’s worked really hard on her game. I think the best part of tonight was, I believe she went four for four from the free throw line. That’s something she’s really worked on and emphasized this year because she does get fouled a lot. But she brings so much to our team, and I think a lot of times other teams will overlook her, and that’s to our benefit because she can get a lot done.”
After that, they had a pair of scorers with 9 points each. One of them was Jordan Washington who finished with 3 rebounds and a blocked shot as well. She scored 5 points in the first half.
But the other player scoring 9 points in the game to go along with 2 rebounds was Taylor Stoppello. She did it all on 3 shots from deep in the game. Stoppello also scored 6 points in the first half.
As the season has gone on, Stoppello has continued to be better and better and now has worked her way into being a key bench piece after missing most of her junior season due to an injury.
“I think one of the hardest parts about Taylor’s injury last year was, if you look at the stats, I think at the time she got hurt, she was shooting almost 50% from the three-point line and was our first or second-person off the bench,” Bettencourt said of Stoppello’s importance. “Obviously coming back from the injury that she came back from, it took some time. But that kid puts in so much work. She’s so driven. I’m just so proud of her and happy for her because seeing how she’s playing right now is a testament to hard work and believing in yourself, and I’m excited for her because I think it’s just going to keep getting better.”
All season long, the Braves have done a good job of spreading the wealth and being unselfish with the ball. This couldn’t show much more than on Thursday when pretty much everyone scored a bucket in the game.
Others scoring in the game were Lauren Keller (6 points, 4 rebounds), Dylan Zapolski (5 points, 1 rebound), Nadia Sousa (5 points), Caiden Grimmer (4 points, 1 rebound), Sophia Dominici (2 points, 2 rebounds), Madyson Carson (2 points, 2 rebounds), and Lydia Heil (2 points, 1 rebound).
“It’s really important to us that we play as a team and play together,” Bettencourt pointed out. “I think a lot of people know Jordan and Lauren lead us in scoring and that doesn’t really change much in terms of when they’re going to take the most shots. But we really do preach that if everyone shares the ball, everyone gets better shots. And the beautiful thing about these girls is they love each other on the bench.”
With the win, the Brave stayed undefeated in league play. But right now, they are also focused on getting better with each game.
“Right now, our goal as a team is to get better,” Bettencourt said of the nightly focus. “What we really try to be is process driven. We are going to take every opponent just as seriously as every other opponent that we play. We try not to worry about what the record is or where they are in the standings. It doesn’t matter. Our process is to get better every single day, and that’s just what we’re trying to do.”
Both teams will continue league play on Saturday at 4 pm. Justin-Siena will host Vintage and Casa Grande will host Napa.
In other league games Thursday night, Sonoma Valley beat American Canyon 60-35 and Petaluma beat Napa 38-22.
