Napa Valley gains separation in second quarter, gets hot shooting for three-point land to beat Solano for first season sweep since 1993
By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Eric Thompson (Shamboozled.com)
Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
While winning is always fun, it’s more fun when a program reaches new heights that it hasn’t reached in a long time.
In Friday night’s Bay Valley Conference contest, this is what Napa Valley did as they rolled past Solano, 80-59 at Storm Gym.
Napa Valley (16-10 overall, 12-2 BVC) was able to take control of the game to begin the second quarter when they went on an 8-0 run to get the lead to 31-20 for their first double-digit lead of the night. They did this by making shots and keeping the momentum on their side midway through the second quarter.
“The momentum seems like it changes when you make shots,” Napa Valley College head coach Paul DeBolt laughed. “That’s what basketball is. So we put together a nice little run there, all the way to the end of the half.”
Before that, they had also gone on a 9-2 run to go up 18-9 to begin the second quarter. The Storm took advantage of turnovers during this time to get what was their largest lead of the game.
“We were definitely just focusing on defense, and once we got the ball off defense, after getting stops, we just focused on sharing the ball and getting easy layups,” Napa Valley College do-it-all sophomore Rose Jamison said of the first-half run.
It also helped that Napa Valley had a good night on offense, with their big three all finishing with double-digits in scoring. They also made an eye-popping 10 three-point field goals in the game, which is something they’ve been capable of doing all season.
“It really helps because we haven’t been a great three-point shooting team the last couple years, and we should be better,” DeBolt said of the good night shooting from deep. “We’ve got some kids who can really knock down threes. So it’s just been kind of a mystery why we haven’t been a better three-point shooting team. So tonight was a good night to kind of get in that rhythm and make some threes.”
Leading the Storm in the game was Jamison who finished with a game-leading 32 points, 14 rebounds, and a blocked shot to finish with a double-double. She scored 23 points in the first half and made 9 of 12 shots at the free-throw line. Jamison was able to do this by shooting the ball especially well.
“I’ve just been in a slump this whole season,” Jamison said of her nice night shooting. “It felt great to hit some shots finally tonight.”
Also going for a monster performance in the game was Arianna Aguilar. The freshman finished with 27 points and 5 rebounds. She scored 16 points in the first half and made 5 shots from beyond the arc in the game.
“Ari was dominant tonight,” DeBolt pointed out. “She came in with a real great mindset to go out and play. She’d been dragging a little bit, worn down the season a little bit. But we had nine days off so that really helped rejuvenate us. And we scrimmaged against our men’s team red shirts, which helped us, I thought. But she had a big night. Just made shots, played good defense. That top spot in the 1-3-1 is a tough spot to play.”
Rounding out the trio of scorers in double-digits was Jazmine Fontilla who added 11 points and 3 rebounds. The freshman scored 9 points in the first half and made one shot from downtown in the game.
Others scoring for Napa Valley in the game were Marticia Pollard (8 points, 6 rebounds) and Helena White (2 points, 2 rebounds).
This is a monster win for the program. Not only does it help them maintain their grip on second place in the conference but it is also the first time the program has swept Solano since 1993.
“The team played so well tonight,” DeBolt explained. “Those kids came to play. That’s their win. They really got after it. They shared the ball. We didn’t react to mistakes in a negative way. We stayed positive, kept pushing, kept pushing, and I was just really, really proud of them. It’s just a great win for the program and the college.”
Napa Valley will end the season with a pair of games next week. On Tuesday at 7:30 pm, they’ll visit Marin and then they’ll host Yuba-Marysville on Thursday at 7:30 pm for Sophomore night.
