Justin-Siena plays tough defense early to blitz Vintage, cruise to easy Vine Valley Athletic League win
By Kyle Foster
Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
When you play hounding defense, everything else will take care of itself. But having solid defense is important.
In Saturday’s game at Daniel J. Clark Gym, Justin-Siena used their defense to immediately take control and beat Vintage, 62-19, in Vine Valley Athletic League action as part of Super Saturday.
The Braves (12-2 overall, 3-0 VVAL) were able to take all the control of the game in the first quarter when they went on an 18-0 run, which gave them a huge lead early on in the game. They were able to do this with their defense.
“We knew that we had to be on our game because they do a good job with their screen game,” Justin-Siena head coach Andy Bettencourt said. “Our girls did a good job of applying pressure and forcing turnovers and tough shots. I thought we committed too many fouls at times. But overall, we were able to set the tone defensively, which led to some fast breaks and easy baskets on offense.”
That same defense has been the identity of Justin-Siena this season and the base of everything that they can do.
“Our defense has been a big thing so that we can stop the ball and run all the things we do on the offensive end of the floor,” Justin-Siena junior guard Lauren Keller explained. “So I think our coach puts a big emphasis on defense, stopping the ball early so that we can do our transition game, which is probably our best side of the offensive floor. So I think just continuing to stay locked in and be aggressive has helped us a lot.”
In the game, Keller finished with 18 points, along with 2 rebounds. The junior scored 11 points in the first half and made her lone free throw and shot from deep in the game.
“Lauren is constantly making plays for us, which includes but is not limited to her scoring ability,” Bettencourt explained. “She is incredibly valuable to our team and is one of our leaders. Today, she did a great job on both ends of the floor and finished really well around the rim.”
This is now Keller’s third year on varsity. She has been getting better each year, but her shot selection and confidence in her game have changed this season.
“I’ve felt a difference in my game from the last few years,” Keller said of her growth. “I’ve always been trying to find my flow, but I feel like now with the two years and everything, I’ve been able to kind of find it now and trust myself. But also, like with my teammates and my coaches, they’ve really helped me to grow into that. But yeah, I feel like the last few years, it’s kind of been on and off, and now it’s kind of been flowing a lot more, which is really good, and it makes me happy.”
Also having a nice game was Naveena Jackson. The senior forward finished with 10 points and 3 rebounds. She scored 6 points in the first half and made just one field goal in the game. Jackson was also an impressive 7 of 9 from the charity stripe in the game.
“Naveena is great,” Keller said. “I love playing with her and we work so well together. She’s just so good all areas of the floor. She’s our best defender. But she’s really just grown to trust herself too, kind of like I have, and her scoring on the offensive end is just so incredible because coach always puts her on the best player on the scouting report.”
This marks two games in a row where Jackson has been great from the line and was the team’s second-highest scorer.
“Neveena was a rock from the free-throw line again and continued to do a good job of attacking the and finishing and drawing fouls,” Bettencourt said of Jackson. “She has really stepped up her game offensively and it’s been fun to watch.”
Others scoring for the Braves in the game were Dylan Zapolski (7 points), Jordan Washington (6 points, 8 rebounds), Taylor Stoppello (6 points), Caiden Grimmer (5 points, 3 rebounds), Paige Helms (3 points, 1 rebound), Madyson Carson (3 points, 1 rebound), Sophia Dominici (2 points), and Lydia Heil (2 points).
As for Vintage (6-10, 1-2 VVAL), it was a rough game. That being said, the Crushers were able to get plenty of open looks. But not many of them fell.
“Obviously they’re tough, not discrediting them at all,” first-year Vintage head coach Hannah Newman said. “But we just could not get anything to go our way on offense. We had really good looks. We would do what we wanted to do on defensem we’d get a stop. We just couldn’t convert. We couldn’t score, couldn’t get the ball in the basket, and sometimes that’s how basketball goes. So we have to live with it and learn.”
In the game, Vintage was led by Luna Aguilar Loera who finished with a team-leading 6 points and 1 rebound. She has been more of a sparkplug as of late since coming back from an injury earlier in the season. She scored 4 points in the first half and made 2 of 4 free throws in the game.
“She’s just consistent,” Newman added. “She’s our leading scorer when she’s on the court. We’ve missed her for a month and a half. So getting her back and working her into the rotation, a big difference to when she was playing this year to last year.”
Others scoring in the game for the Crushers were Elinor Travers (4 points, 3 rebounds), Aranza Aguilar Loera (3 points, 3 rebounds), Ashley Gerenser (2 points, 1 rebound), Sydney Morton (2 points, 1 rebound), Brooklyn Perez (1 point, 8 rebounds), and Viviana Mitrerojas (1 point, 1 rebound).
Both teams will continue league play on Tuesday at 7 pm with rivalry games at home. Vintage will host Napa High in the first Big Game of the season. Meanwhile, Justin-Siena will host Sonoma Valley in the first meeting since the two met in last year’s VVAL League tournament title game.
“We know that Sonoma has good players, is very well-coached, and will play with passion and energy,” Bettencourt said of the game with Sonoma Valley on Tuesday. “We need to make sure we focus on our preparation and continue to focus on the process of getting better as we prepare.”
In other VVAL action, Sonoma Valley beat Petaluma 39-30 and Casa Grande beat Napa 59-27
