Justin-Siena gains edge in second quarter, puts game away in third with hounding defense to beat American Canyon and win second straight league tournament title
By Kyle Foster
Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
When you’re in the midst of a great run, it’s important to take a moment and take it all in.
On Saturday night at Messner Gym, No. 1 seed Justin-Siena continued its amazing run as they beat No. 2 American Canyon 62-39 to win the Vine Valley Athletic League tournament title, in addition to their regular-season title.
The Braves (25-2) have done this by winning 16 games in a row, including all 14 in the league season and tournament. This is also the second straight year they’ve won both league titles.
“We don’t take anything for granted,” Justin-Siena head coach Andy Bettencourt said of repeating as regular season and league tournament champions. “These girls put so much work in and so much time and we as coaches just feel so lucky to coach them, and it’s a huge accomplishment. Going 14-0 in the league, including the tournament, is not easy, and these girls stuck to it. They increased their intensity and focus this week at practice, and it was evident today.”
Justin-Siena was able to take control of the game in the second quarter with the help of taking care of the basketball after a sloppy first quarter.
“We knew we had to do a better job of valuing the ball against their pressure, which I thought we did, and we knew that we just had to play solid defensively,” Bettencourt said of how his squad took care of the ball. “Give them credit. They came out, and it felt like they were making everything, and we were able to weather that storm, and from there, our kids just did such a phenomenal job of staying spaced and attacking the rim. And then when they got open shots, they made them and that really helps.”
However, the Braves put the game away in the third quarter when they held American Canyon to just 3 points and ramped up the defensive pressure.
“We knew that we’d have to come out strong because we knew they’d have their last fight to kind of push back,” Justin-Siena senior center Jordan Washington said of the strong defense to put the game away. “So we knew we’d have to come out of halftime strong. And defense has been something that’s saved us in multiple games this year. Last time we played AC we had a really bad offensive night, but it was our defense that helped us pull away and win that game, and so we knew that we’d have to lock in right now. So we just really focused on defense, and some of our shots weren’t really going in in the second half, but it was our defense that helped us stay in and keep the lead.”
It also helped that they were able to spread out the scoring as they had three players with double-digits in points. Leading them all was Washington who finished with a game-high 21 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots from a double-double. Washington was dominant in the first half as she scored 17 points while making 2 of 3 free throws in the game. This was also her second time with a double-double against American Canyon after doing so back on January 21st.
“Playing against AC I know I have to bring my all,” Washington explained. “I know have to come out strong. So I just kind of like focus, and I lock in and I just do as much as I can to score because I know that this is a really tough team and that we all have to bring everything to beat them. So I just kind of focus in and make sure I box out., Playing in some helps me focus on the little things that I need to focus on.”
Other players who played well were Taylor Stoppello and Dylan Zapolski, who both ended the night with 11 points and 3 rebounds.
Stoppello was thrust into the lineup in the game and scored 8 points in the first half and made 3 shots from behind the three-point line.
“I couldn’t be happier for anyone on this team,” Bettencourt said of Stoppello’s impact. “Taylor’s junior year ended early with a knee injury. That kid worked so hard. She puts in so much time. She’s been playing really well for about the past month. And sometimes when kids are playing well, it’s not about whether or not the shots are going in. She’s been under control. She’s been making the right decision. She’s been playing really hard defensively. Tonight, we got to see the shots go in, which was awesome. But Taylor has been playing really well for a while, and we had full confidence in certain her into the lineup tonight for Lauren (Keller), and she responded in a big way.”
Meanwhile, Zapolski scored 9 points in the first half and made 4 two-point field goals in the game. In the last week, she has started to score more like she did last season.
“Not having Lauren was really tough,” Washington pointed out. “She’s a really big player, so having those two, they definitely stepped up. They came out and they knew that they’d have to step up and kind of like take her role, and they did a really good job. It was really nice that anytime I drove and they collapsed in on me, I could just kick it out, and I know that either Taylor or Dylan would just make the shot. So it’s just really cool to see that. They were on fire today.”
Others scoring for Justin-Siena were Naveena Jackson (8 points, 4 rebounds), Caiden Grimmer (4 points, 2 rebounds), Paige Helms (3 points, 3 rebounds), Sophia Dominici (2 points, 3 rebounds), and Nadia Sousa (2 points).
American Canyon (21-8) was able to keep the game close in the first quarter thanks to coming out and using its press to force some turnovers. They also were very physical during this time.
“I think early on, we were able to put in our press a little bit and maybe get up and down the court a little bit more,” American Canyon first-year head coach Michael Evans explained of the good start. “But they’re just tough. If you don’t keep a body on them, they just continue offensive rebound and pound the glass. They stay spaced. So we make a mistake, they’re going to find the open person. They just played as a veteran team, and so we played them much better at our place. But this game is just like, we had a shot at them and then that second quarter kind of got away from us. We never recovered.”
Other than the first quarter, they had a hard time doing much of anything on offense in the game.
“We couldn’t respond with some baskets,” Evans added. “We got a few stops. But when you get a drought where you don’t score baskets, and you think that the game is about you scoring, and you just stopped playing defense. So everything just fell apart. The defense fell apart. We went to our zone. We didn’t stop the ball. They drove baseline and drove middle. We just couldn’t stop no matter what we were in. So literally, we just played basically a quarter of no defense at all.”
This was reflected by their leading scorers. Leading the Wolves in the game scoring were Jordan Woodson and Ke’yani Bryant who each had 8 points.
After that scoring for the Wolves were Essie Okpalaugo (6 points), Ayja Querubin (5 points), Tyra Fleming (3 points), Nayonni Mitchell (3 points), Zoe Sangalang (2 points), Ysabelle Locquiao (2 points), and Deja Montgomery (1 point).
Both teams will now wait for their fate in the CIF North Coast Section playoffs. Brackets should be released at some tomorrow afternoon. There is a chance that both teams face each other next week as well. By making it to the league tournament championship, both teams clinched an automatic bid to the playoffs.
