Gilroy
– One last night of Mustang basketball at the GHS Main Gym. One
last chance for the home fans to root for their girls this
season.
The Gilroy squad didn’t let them down.
Gilroy – One last night of Mustang basketball at the GHS Main Gym. One last chance for the home fans to root for their girls this season.
The Gilroy squad didn’t let them down.
The ‘Stangs took down an athletic Monta Vista team 53-38 Wednesday night in a first-round CCS Division I playoff game that was ruled on the boards and in the paint.
No. 3 Gilroy now travels to a neutral court at San Jose’s Leland High for a 6:15pm quarterfinal matchup with No. 11 Milpitas, 73-68 winners over Salinas Wednesday night.
Gilroy’s mastery of the glass was decisive against No. 14 Monta Vista. The Mustangs outrebounded the Matadors 51-25 on the night – Gilroy pulled down 22 rebounds to Monta Vista’s four in the first half alone.
“I think that we definitely dominated the boards, just boxing out,” said Gilroy head coach Kari Williams. “We knew we needed to do that, and just push the ball up the court.
“It was just a good performance for the whole team.”
Pushing the ball up court without a break for the Mustangs was point guard Kristen Campos. The junior, playing the full 32 minutes, got Gilroy started with two 3-pointers and another bucket in the first quarter and wound up with 12 points for the game.
“(Campos) is our point guard and she controls the tempo,” said Williams. “When she runs the team runs. That’s why she’s an All-League selection.”
For her part, Campos is ready to make a run at getting at least as far as last year’s Gilroy team – which made it to the Division I final game before losing to Salinas.
“I hope we make it to the final,” she said. “I think we can. We have the talent and the desire to do it.”
At the end of the first half, the Matadors put a scare into the home team. Scoring six points in the final 30 seconds, they shortened a double-digit Gilroy lead to just eight points going into the break.
“That’s what happens when you give up turnovers,” said Williams, who said she spoke with one of her players who underperformed in the first half, Katherine Hussey, about stepping it up in the second.
Hussey came through.
The All-TCAL guard had eight huge points in a third quarter that saw the Gilroy offense sputter a bit. In the fourth, she hit a 3-pointer and a two, while crashing the boards relentlessly, making steals and setting up teammates for easy buckets.
Hussey wound up with a game-high 17 – 15 of which came after the pep talk from Williams.
“She’s a great basketball player and has so much potential,” said Williams.
“At halftime, I told her I needed to have it this half. And she came out, shooting, rebounding other people’s shots, stealing the ball on the press.
“You know, she played outstanding tonight and really made a difference. When we kind of let it go, she kind of came in and fired it up for us.”
Mustangs 53
Matadors 38
Scoring
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Tot.
M. Vista 8 13 5 12 38
Gilroy 18 11 12 12 53
MONTA VISTA (12-15)
Lau 1 1-2 4, Bullier 3 0-2 7 Cochrane 1 0-0 2, Cheng 0 1-2 1, Li 0 6-6 6, Kou 3 2-2 8, Tam 3 2-5 8.
3-pointers: Lau, Bullier.
GILROY (19-9)
Mancera 2 2-3 7, Nowakowski 1 0-0 2, Costa 1 0-0 2, Radtke 0 2-2 2, DiFiore 2 0-0 4, Hussey 8 0-1 17, Groppe 1 0-0 2, Link 2 1-5 5, Campos 5 0-0 12, Logan 0 0-1 0.
3-pointers: Campos (2), Mancera, Hussey.
Rebounds: MV – 25, GIL – 51.
Turnovers: MV – 19, GIL – 23.
