Vintage uses full-court press to gain advantage, go on run to begin second half and beat Vallejo

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By Kyle Foster

kfost91197@gmail.com

Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews

Throughout the course of a season, there will be times when, for whatever reason, you lack some needed energy. But one adjustment can also seem to wake a team up. 

On Tuesday afternoon, this was the case as the Vintage girls’ basketball team beat Vallejo, 63-46, in a non-league contest at Crusher Gym. 

Vintage (6-3) opened up the second half hot as they scored the first 8 points out of the break, which gave them a 40-29 edge. Oddly enough, this came because they played with a more focused energy to begin the second half. 

“I think we just talked about an energy shift,” Vintage head coach Hannah Newman explained. “It felt like we were kind of a little behind, a little slow. We were just so close to getting so many steals and finishing around the rim, and it was just talking about anticipating, playing with energy and some intensity, and I think that we were able to make that adjustment at the start of the third.” 

However, another thing that was key in the game was the Crushers’ use of the full-court press defense. This wore out Vallejo and caused a bunch of turnovers as well. 

“I’m really proud of them being able to play in the full court for the whole game; it’s a big ask,” Newman said of the press. “We talked about that. That was a lot of our game plan; we knew they had the size advantage. We didn’t really want to set up in the half-court against them. So extending the court as much as we could, flying around the court, and getting our hands on any passes that we could or any loose balls. And I think that we did a good job of it throughout the whole game. I really felt like the second half is when it kind of showed a little more.” 

But maybe the thing that stood out the most in the game was the fact that the Vintage offense looked the best it has all year. They had three players score in double figures, with another being quite close, too.  

“I think the girls have been really working hard on their finishes around the rim and just getting better looks at the basket in general, just more on balance shots,” Newman added. “So we’ve definitely been working on that, and kind of going from our past few games where it was a lot of intense man pressure and trying to get open through that, to switch to this game where they’re in kind of a set zone and really working on the fundamentals of ball fakes and getting it into our post players and then kicking it out. So I think that was really good for us, especially since we haven’t seen zone in a while, to make that change.” 

Leading the Crushers in the contest was sophomore Samantha Kennedy. She finished with a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds. Kennedy scored 11 points in the first half and made all 3 of her free throws in the game.  

“It’s so nice having a player like Sammie on the team because she’s so tough,” Newman pointed out. “And I think that one of the things I really enjoy about coaching her is that she just wants to win, like, whatever the cost is, like, she wants to win. That’s a contagious player in the locker room, and I think that she’s always up for a challenge.” 

After that, Sydney Morton added 11 points and 1 rebound. The junior guard scored 9 points in the second half and made 2 of 4 free throws in the game, while also making a three-pointer. She also did all of this off the bench. 

“She’s so quick,” Newman said of Morton. “I’ve gotten to coach her for a while now, and so it’s really nice to see her get a game like this where she can pair her quickness and speed, and then it can translate for her on offense. She gets her hands on a lot of passes, loose balls, all those types of things. And then being able to score off of it is really big for her.” 

Rounding out the trio was Luna Aguilar-Loera. The senior guard added 10 points and 8 rebounds. Aguilar-Loera scored 8 points in the first half and made all 4 of her free throws on the day. 

Others scoring for Vintage in the game were Aranza Aguilar (9 points, 1 rebound), Kennley Price (6 points, 5 rebounds), Ashley Gerenser (6 points, 3 rebounds, 1 blocked shot), Sophia Bonetti (4 points, 1 rebound), Kaia Sidhu (2 points, 3 rebounds), and Maddy Alvarez (2 points, 1 rebound).

The victory is key for the Crushers because it breaks a brief two-game losing skid. It also gives them some momentum as they head to the West Coast Jamboree to end the calendar year. 

The West Coast Jamboree will take place from December 27th through December 29th. After that, Vintage will return home to open the Vine Valley Athletic League slate against Casa Grande-Petaluma on January 3rd.