Campos drains four treys in 74-64 home loss to Salinas in Gilroy
girls hoops’ league opener
GILROY – Coach Kari Williams got what she wanted out of her Lady Mustang hoopsters, but it was still not enough to hang with Salinas in Friday’s 74-64 home loss.
“We had seen them play and we knew that they push the ball down court and we prepared for that and I think for the most part we did a pretty good job of that,” Williams said. “(Sarah) Hoeft was in foul trouble for most of the game and she’s our big post, but she’s also very quick and will stop that kind of transition.”
Hoeft, the team leader who is getting back her game since returning from injury, had three fouls in the first half, limiting her time, and eventually fouled out of the game with 3:46 remaining.
“The girls who came in did a great job,” said Williams of Hoeft’s front-court replacements. “I think Antionette (Okere) and Amanda Link came in and did a great job, but we don’t have the speed we would otherwise with her in there to stop that transition.”
Salinas, which reached the CCS Finals last season, kept up the pressure and used an effective transition game to fend off the feisty Lady Mustangs in the Tri-County Athletic League opener.
“If we prevent those kind of passes, this is a different basketball game. They scored a lot of easy buckets off that,” Williams said. “Offensively though, this is the team I’ve been waiting to see play. This was a good basketball game. I think that the 10-point deficit was not reflective of the game. I think it was a good game. It was a lot closer than that.”
The Lady Mustangs did not score for the first three minutes until Link caught fire, netting 13 of her team-high 16 points in the first half.
“She did a great job. She stepped in and scored our first five points,” said Williams of Link.
Trailing 13-2, Gilroy trimmed the gap to three by the end of the first quarter. After matching Salinas bucket for bucket in the second quarter and going into the locker room down, 34-33, the Lady Mustangs took a brief one-point lead on Hoeft’s turnaround bank shot to open the half.
“We got caught back up and we were doing good things and took the lead when we came out of the half and I thought, ‘OK, we’re going to do this,'” Williams said. “It’s just a matter of we still made some mistakes that we need to improve on.”
Salinas (9-7, 1-0), which was led by Rebekah Fales and her game-high 24 points, fired right back at Gilroy in the third quarter, surging to an eight-point lead with 2:37 left.
Sophomore point guard Kristen Campos (12 points) then carried the Lady Mustangs back into the game with back-to-back treys to cut the gap to only two. But once again, the Lady Cowboys beat Gilroy down the court in transition, extending to a seven-point lead at the end of the third.
“Today, we had athletic training and she had me shoot 40 threes before the game and then she’s making me penetrate. She’s making me a better player,” Campos said. “We’ve been working really hard this week. … I think if we keep working hard, we can beat any team out there.”
Despite losing by 10 points, the Lady Mustangs (8-9, 0-1) played one of their best games – also getting strong efforts from sophomore Catherine Hussey (10 points) and junior Michelle DiFiore (seven points).
“I think the girls have to be proud of how they played. A lot of that game I had three sophomores and two juniors out there and I am excited about that. I am happy that our sophomores are maturing very well,” Williams said. “(Campos) had a great game. Marissa Nowakowski did a great job on defense on Fales. … We just need to do it for the whole game.”
Up next on the schedule, Gilroy will host Hollister on Thursday night at seven o’clock.
