Napa Valley leads from tip, uses key run to stretch lead in third quarter to beat Rio Hondo in Storm Surge Championship game

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By Kyle Foster

kfost91197@gmail.com

Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews

While all wins count the same, there are some that feel better and mean more than others. This can happen when a team either comes of age or fixes something that has been an issue. 

In the championship game of the 5th annual Storm Surge Tournament, this is what the host Napa Valley College women did as they beat Rio Hondo of Whittier, 71-64. 

Napa Valley (9-2) opened the game up with way better energy, as they led the contest wire-to-wire. But they took control of the contest with an 11-0 run, which gave them a 43-29 lead three minutes into the third quarter. This run bridged the second and third quarters. 

The Storm also held a pair of 15-point leads in the second half, which was their largest lead in the game. The lead evaporated at one point, where they only held a slim two-point edge as the minutes were winding down.

“It was a very solid win, the best one we’ve had this year,” Napa Valley College head coach Paul DeBolt pointed out. “Rio is a pretty good team. They got some very good basketball players, and I felt like we were able to handle what they threw at us.” 

Yet another thing that helped was the fact that the offense was coming easily, and more shots were available. Evidence of this came as Napa Valley had four scorers in double-digits for the game. 

Leading them all was a sophomore duo with 17 points each. One of them was Jazmine Fontilla, who scored 17 points and 8 rebounds. This was because she was consistently driving downhill and getting fouled. All of this led her to be named to the all-tournament team. 

“I realized for the past few days, my shots weren’t really falling,” Fontilla explained as to why her focus was on getting fouled and driving into the paint. “When that happens, I feel like I just need to see the ball go in the basket, and the easiest way for me is just driving to the basket. If I don’t make the layup, at least create contact and draw that foul, which I did pretty good at, since I went to the line a pretty good amount of times today.”

She scored 10 points in the second half, all on free throws. She ended the night with 10 makes in 18 attempts at the line. 

“So obviously, in the first half, I knew I was 50% I think I was three for six,” Fontilla said. “And I just feel like I was in my head just overthinking the whole situation. This is a championship game; these free throws matter. But in the second half, I just realized, it’s just a shot.  I don’t have to overthink it. I take a deep breath, focus, and then use my legs, (and) it went in.” 

The other player with 17 points and 4 rebounds was Arianna Aguilar. She scored 12 points in the second half and went 4 of 5 from the line. She was named the tournament MVP. 

Another player in double figures was Marticia Pollard. The sophomore center finished with 11 points and 7 rebounds. She also accounted for some key buckets down the stretch thanks to having a high IQ and good vision on the court.

“She was on state championship teams at Oakland Tech,” DeBolt said. “So she knows, she knows the game. She’s seen it. She’s seen it up close. She’s played with high-level players and played against high-level players. So it’s nice to see her getting her chance to really shine on both ends of the court.” 

The last of the four, with 10 points and 4 rebounds, was Layla Butler. She scored 8 points in the first half and made both free throws in the game. 

Others scoring for the Storm in the contest were Ashley Torres (5 points, 5 rebounds), Amiyah Murry (4 points, 6 rebounds), Jazelle Bolton (4 points, 5 rebounds), and Amya Sims (3 points, 2 rebounds). 

Winning the tournament that they host is also important. Last year, they lost in the title game. So that makes this win and getting through the grind of 3 games in 3 days nice. It also helps that they’ve now strung together 7 wins in a row. 

“It means a lot,” Fontilla said of winning the tournament NVC hosts. “I’m honestly not too sure if Napa has ever won their tournament or not, but we played here last year. We lost in the championship game. It was a pretty bad loss. I think we lost by 15 to 20 points. So this win today means a lot to me, the sophomores, and even the freshmen, it’s their first, first of our tournament that they’ve experienced. And especially to me, being a sophomore, it means a lot being able to get this tournament win.” 

Napa Valley will be back in action on Monday at 5:30 PM when they host Foothill. This will end a stretch of 4 games in 5 days.