Gilroy Rallies From 10-point Halftime Deficit to Win Mustang
Classic
Gilroy – There were a lot of positive words used to describe the Gilroy girls basketball team’s title game in the 2005 Mustang Classic Saturday.
But one pretty much summed it all up.
“Finally,” said smiling head coach Kari Williams following her team’s 61-53 win over Notre Dame-San Jose. For the first time in six years – and the first in Williams’ four years at Gilroy – the Mustangs could call themselves champions of their own tournament.
“(This is) tremendous,” said sophomore guard Vanessa Wilkins, who was named to the All-Tournament team along with teammates Katherine Hussey, Marissa Nowakowski and tournament MVP Kristen Campos. “Just a feeling you never get. It’s a big accomplishment.”
Said Campos, “When we (the seniors) were freshmen, we played in the JV tournament and won that, but this is way more exciting.”
The Mustangs (3-1) had four players score in double digits: Senior forward Jessica Groppe (16 points), Campos (14), Hussey and Wilkins (11 apiece). Wilkins also pulled down 10 boards while Hussey and Groppe each had eight.
The ‘Stangs weren’t too excited after the first half, which was as bad as the second half was good.
After a hot-shooting ND-SJ team racked up 25 points in the first quarter to take a 16-point lead, it looked like Gilroy was headed toward being the runner-up for the second consecutive year. Gilroy’s poor shot selection and ND-SJ’s scoring duo of post players Caitlin Amarillas and Erica Haedrich, who combined for 24 first-half points, had the Regents leading 33-23 after two quarters.
But some halftime adjustments changed all that.
Offensively, Gilroy looked to get the ball to its own post players, Groppe and Hussey, for better shots. After a Wilkins lay-up and free throw and a driving jumper from Hussey in the opening minutes cut ND-SJ’s lead to 33-28, Campos (6 assists) drove down the left side of the lane, drawing the post defenders and dishing a pretty scoop pass off to Groppe on the block. Groppe, who led Gilroy with 16 points, scored on the short shot while being fouled. She made the free throw for the three-point play and brought Gilroy to 33-31.
Moments later, Nowakowski stole the ball back for Gilroy and Groppe posted up and converted another and-1 basket on a nice pass from Campos, who was just outside the arc. That three-point play tied the game at 33.
“We wanted to start hitting Jess. She started giving us good post-ups,” Williams said. “We started penetrating in the second half, which made a big difference.”
From there, the ‘Stangs kept building the lead and held the Regents, partly thanks to some defensive strategizing from Hussey and Groppe.
At halftime, the two decided to swap defensive assignments on scoring threats Amarillas and Haedrich when they realized they were mis-matched.
“We said, ‘Why don’t we switch?'” Hussey said. “We made smarter decisions in the second half.”
It turned out to be a good idea. The Mustangs outscored the Regents 20-2 in the third quarter and held All-Tournament players Amarillas and Haedrich to six and two points, respectively, in the second half.
“We were a very good team in the second half and I was really happy to see that,” Williams said.
ND-SJ didn’t help its cause in the second half, picking up five team fouls in the first two minutes of the third quarter. Gilroy went into the bonus less than halfway into the quarter.
JV Mustangs Win JV Classic
Minutes after the varsity received its championship trophy, the JV team made it a clean sweep for Gilroy, beating Aptos 40-38 down the hall in the small gym in the JV championship game. The JV ‘Stangs beat North Monterey County and Notre Dame-San Jose en route to the title game.
Eight players who were on the 22-1 freshman team a year ago are now on the JV and are still enjoying success.
“They’ve really picked up where they left off,” said JV coach Trudi Souza, who coached the freshman team last season. “Pressing is definitely their strength, which is kind of uncommon (at the JV level).”
Gilroy players Jenny Ailes, Megan McAvoy and Stephanie Solorio were named to the All-Tournament team while center/forward Angela Silveira was named MVP.
