There aren’t too many other ways for a team to start a season
better than the Gilroy High girls varsity basketball team.
There aren’t too many other ways for a team to start a season better than the Gilroy High girls varsity basketball team.
The Lady Mustangs delivered a clean 3-0 performance at the 25th annual Mustang Classic over the weekend, using a smothering defense and just enough offense to claim the tournament championship.
It was that suffocating pressure in Saturday’s final that spurred the Lady Mustangs to a 46-24 victory as they held the Gunderson Grizzlies to just four points in the second half.
“I think the most pleasant surprise so far is their defensive ability,” second-year head coach Tim Jones said. “We are much more aggressive than I thought we would be at this point. We are in passing lanes, we are stealing the ball and communicating really well. I’ve been pretty impressed with that.”
Junior Michelle Sosa, who had a 20-point outburst in the tourney’s second game Friday against Santa Catalina, was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
Senior Chelsea Hill was named to the All-Tournament team, averaging 10 points and nine rebounds per game in the three outings. Sosa also nabbed a spot on the All-Tournament team.
Hill, a returning all-league selection is one of three returning seniors from last season’s team. Starting guard Ashley Lambert and her counterpart in the front court Dani Hemeon are the other two.
The Mustangs gain a pair of key players up from last season’s junior varsity squad, forward Ashlee Williams and Sosa, who have already slid into the starting rotation. Williams posted a team-high 12 points and eight rebounds in the win over Gunderson.
Seniors Alex Rose, Emily Costa and Francesca Filice along with junior Kayla Guardino give Jones reliable options off the bench and round out a team with plenty of potential. GHS features seven players at 5-foot-8 and taller, and have been effective along the boards.
“There is a little bit of relief, mostly for the players. This year, for them, they are much more relaxed,” said Jones, who led GHS to the Central Coast Section Division I quarterfinals last year.
“We’ve got a lot of talented players and we are finding our way to mesh together. They are getting into the swing of things. It will just be a matter of coming together as a group and they are already very close. I think we are going to be surprising to a lot of people.”
It hasn’t been the easiest two years for the Lady Mustangs’ program, with dissension among the players and a difficulty finding camaraderie.
But this year’s nine players (six seniors and three juniors) are equipped with a much more laid back and content approach to the game. Trust has found its way back among the players and coaches, and at first glance – plus the 3-0 start – it’s appears it’s working for GHS.
“Most of us have been playing together as far back as middle school,” Sosa said. “We are like a big family. We have bonded really well.”
The Lady Mustangs finished runner-up one game behind North Salinas and one ahead of San Benito in the Tri-County Athletic League in 2009-10. Those three teams will again jockey for the top of the standings.
“We would definitely like to push the ball up the floor a bit to get those easy transition shots,” Jones said addressing some of the offensive shortcomings thus far. “We have had trouble in our half-court offense and finding our open shots and knocking them down with consistency. We will continue to work on that and see it improve. And if our defense stays this aggressive, and the shooting comes around, we should win a lot of games.”
