Novato’s run to begin fourth quarter leads them past Napa in tightly-played game

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By Kyle Foster

kfost91197@gmail.com

Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews

When a game is so close, it can be a decision that changes the outcome. If it works out, the move was a good one. But if it doesn’t, it can be tough. This is how sports are sometimes, though. 

On Thursday night in Messner Gym, a key decision was what led Novato past Napa High, 34-27, in a battle. 

Novato (4-8) opened up its biggest lead of the game when it opened the period with a 7-0 scoring run to open up a 34-25 lead. This came after Napa went away from their tough defense, where they were playing man, and into a zone. 

“I think that as a coach, I made the wrong decision going back into a three-two zone, and I could take ownership of that,” Napa High head coach Andrew Phillips said. “When we were playing man or person-to-person, we were a little bit more aggressive. Being in the zone, you kind of get passive, relaxed; it takes a lot of aggression out of the game, and I made a bad decision defensively. I don’t fault those girls. They fought. They’ve done what I’ve asked them to do, and that’s just compete.” 

But it also didn’t help that the Hornets started to knock down every shot they took in the final quarter, which made it hard to get any momentum going. 

Before this, Napa (5-4) had control of the game. After all, they started the game strong and ran off a 5-0 run to end the first quarter to go up 14-7. 

“I’m really trying to be more hands-off with them and let them figure this out on their own,” Phillips added. “And there’s instances where they’re figuring it out, and there’s instances that we continue to sort of make the same mistakes.”

It also helped that the Grizzlies had six different players score in the game. This shows that there are many players who are capable of scoring for the team. 

“It’s important to when a PASS is made to you to see that you’re open,” Phillips pointed out. “The first thing they should be doing is looking at the basket. I’ve challenged them to have our offense mimic our defense. We have to be just aggressive as aggressive on offense as we are on defense.” 

Leading the Napa scoring attack in the game was senior Margaux Bontia. She finished with a team-leading 9 points, 4 rebounds, and a blocked shot. She scored 5 points in the second half and made 1 of 4 free throws in the game. 

“She’s fun to watch,” Phillips explained of Bontia. “She is a prolific player. She’s one to learn. Just works hard. You know, as I’ve challenged these girls, someone else has to be ready to step up when they shut her down. She did only score nine points, but she kept playing, and she’s going to keep playing, and she’s willing to learn.” 

Others scoring for the Grizzlies in the game were Carolina Servin (6 points, 1 rebound), Ileana Chirip (4 points, 1 rebound), Jade Anglin (3 points, 5 rebounds), Harper Anglin (3 points, 2 rebounds), and Cecilia Soria (3 points). 

This season has been another year of growing for Napa. After all, they are still a very young team with tons of room to grow. They’ve already nearly won as many games as they have over the past four seasons. 

“The growth actually takes place at the practice,” said Phillips, who is in his second season at the helm of the program. “The buy-in is where the growth takes place. Again, I am trying to be more hands-off. This team only has three seniors, and with that being said, everybody is a leader, whether they know it or not, everybody brings something, and collectively, is the way that they get this done. Smart group of girls. I can show them something that we’ve never worked on before. I could pull out a clipboard, draw something up, and they catch on to it really, really quick.”   

Napa will be back in action on Friday at 6:30 pm when they go to Antioch to face Deer Valley in another non-league game.