A coach’s worst nightmare cost the Gilroy girls’ basketball team Friday night.
At the semifinals of the Pacific Grove Tournament, the Mustangs connected on just 1-of-8 free throws in the fourth quarter of a 47-45 loss to Hilmar High.
“They made the shots in the end and we didn’t make the free throws,” GHS head coach Kari Williams said. “That’s what it came down to.”
Gilroy (4-2) was led in scoring by guards Kristen Campos (16 pts.) and Katherine Hussey (10 pts.).
The Mustangs trailed by one at the end of the first quarter, but led for most of the game after that. They were up by seven at both halftime and the end of the third quarter.
But then Hilmar’s press finally started working. Gilroy had passed its way through it for much of the night, but tried to dribble its way out of the trouble down the stretch – and that resulted in some costly turnovers.
Williams said the Mustangs, who scored just one basket in the final four minutes, also allowed too many offensive rebounds, which were turned into easy baskets. Breaking a 45-45 tie, Hilmar hit the eventual game-winning shot with about 30 seconds to go.
“We started protecting our lead,” Williams said, “and didn’t continuing doing the things we were executing earlier in the game.”
But the third-year coach wasn’t about to get down on her team, which plays either Seaside or Pacific Grove in today’s third-place game at 1:30pm.
The Mustangs were, after all, coming off Thursday’s impressive 66-50 victory over Soledad. In that game, Campos also led the way with 16 points and was helped by Amanda Link (14 pts.) and Shanté Mancera (9 pts.).
And for most of the game against Hilmar, the ‘Stangs did handle the defensive pressure much more effectively than they had in last Saturday’s 16-point loss to Aptos in the Mustang Classic finals.
“We’ve improved so much in just one week since that Aptos press,” Williams said. “It’s still early, but overall, I’m happy with the improvement of the team and their play.”
