Justin-Siena jumps out to huge lead early thanks to huge first quarter to beat Evergreen Valley in state playoff opener
By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Eric Thompson (Shamboozled.com)
Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
You learn a lot about a team after a tough loss. This is because they have two options. Either keep the bad mojo up and go down without a fight or put your head back down and get to work to get back to what you were doing before.
On Tuesday night at the Daniel J. Clark Gym, the No. 4 seeded Justin-Siena beat No. 13 Evergreen Valley of San Jose, 73-39, in an opener of the CIF State Division 3 playoffs.
The Braves (28-3) took control of the game from the opening tip as they quickly vaulted out to an 8-0 lead then followed that up with a 12-0 run to go up 20-1 in a blink. Justin-Siena did this by getting back into passing lanes and making it hard for Evergreen Valley (19-8) to do anything on offense.
“Yeah, a focus of our of this game was to start strong, and to play strong throughout the entire game,” Justin-Siena senior center Jordan Washington explained of the good start. “Our team is like a family, and we didn’t want the season to end, so we just left everything out on the court.”
It also helped that Justin-Siena came into the game wanting to get back into the win column. They have now won every game following a loss this season, which shows how good of an ability they have to come back and fight.
“The great thing about this team is they hold themselves to a higher standard than I think even the coaches do,” Justin-Siena head coach Andy Bettencourt said. “Yesterday, we did a team activity, and one of the questions we asked was, what went right? And they couldn’t come up with anything other than we started well against Marin Catholic, and because they just hold themselves such a high standard, and they really felt like they had let themselves down in that game. To see them come out with the energy, the intensity and the passion tonight was a lot of fun.”
But maybe the biggest reason the Braves won the game was the magnificent effort from Washington. She finished with a game-high of 29 points, with 15 rebounds, and 4 blocked shots in the game. The senior center scored 19 points in the first half and scored 26 points right around the bucket in the paint. She also made 3 of 5 free throws in the game.
“Naveena (Jackson) played a huge factor in that she was finding me wherever I was,” Washington said of all of her points around the rim. “ I’d just be cutting down, and Veena would see me and be able to pass it to me, and she’d always get pass it to right where I needed it. So it was super easy to finish.”
While all of that is amazing, the biggest part of the night came when Washington recorded her 8th rebound to set the new record for most rebounds in a career at Justin-Siena. She ended the night with 15 rebounds, which put her at 1,175 rebounds in 4 seasons. This record was previously held by Vicky Deely.
“It’s a phenomenal record for a phenomenal kid,” Bettencourt explained. “Jordan is the quintessential player that you had won on your team. She’s talented. She has gotten better every single year. She works really hard, and the best part is she’s an amazing teammate, and she’s unbelievably humble. I am sure that she’s mad at me for that announcement during the game because that is not what she wants. But she deserved it, so we gave it to her. But we’ve just felt so lucky to have her and again, the work ethic, the time that she puts in, and what an incredible teammate she is.”
When Washington got the record, the game was stopped for her to be honored. Washington is now 2 boards away from the new single-season record.
“It’s really cool,” Washington said of her new record. “It was really cool to be out there and just see how everyone around me was even more excited than I was. It just felt really good to see that.”
It was also a big night for Bettencourt as this was his first win in the CIF State playoffs in his coaching career.
“It’s not about me or my record or my wins, it’s about the program,” Bettencourt said of his first win in the state playoffs. “We felt about five years ago that we had slipped as a program and to be back in the state playoffs for the second consecutive year, to play for a section championship, and to now win a state playoff game, it’s a credit to all the people in this program that have worked so hard, that put in the unseen hours, that have such passion and dedication. We have just incredible players, incredible kids, incredible coaching staff. I just feel blessed and lucky to be surrounded by such great people.”
Others scoring in double figures for Justin-Siena were Lauren Keller and Dylan Zapolski.
“They’re huge players out there,” Washington said of the impact Keller and Zapolski made in the game. “They’re scorers, but they’re also looking to pass too. So that’s like a huge thing. They also can both shoot and drive so defenders can’t just stay up on them or sag off because they can just shoot. So it’s huge having them out there.”
Keller finished the game with 13 points and 3 rebounds. She scored 9 in the first half and made 3 of 6 free throws.
Zapolski added 10 points and 3 rebounds. She scored 7 in the second half and made a pair of shots from behind the 3-point line in the game.
Others scoring for the Braves were Naveena Jackson (8 points, 9 rebounds), Caiden Grimmer (7 points, 7 rebounds), Sophia Dominici (2 points, 7 rebounds), Madyson Carson (2 points, 4 rebounds, blocked shot), and Paige Helms (2 points, 2 rebounds).
Justin-Siena will be back in action on Thursday at 7 pm when they host Menlo-Atherton. The No. 12 seed Bears beat No. 5 Ponderosa 53-49 on Tuesday night on the road. You can view the updated bracket.
“It’s a whirlwind, right? We’re going to turn right around and have another game here,” Bettencourt said of the quick turnaround. “We’ve got to definitely take care of the basketball. They’re a different style team than the team we just played today. They’re a lot taller. So we’ve got to be ready for a battle. Looking at the brackets, we did think this was a possibility that they could be coming here.”
