Tremblay pulls down 20 boards in 60-38 home victory
GILROY – The Gavilan College women’s basketball team continued its domination over conference opponents by downing Hartnell by a 60-38 spread, extendinig to a four-game winning streak and improving to 7-4 overall.
Wednesday’s home game saw the return of freshman forward Carolyn Beatty, who broke her foot in the Hartnell Tournament against Ohlone and sat out the last two games.
“It’s excellent,” Beatty said. “I love being back.”
With the return of Beatty, Lady Rams head coach Mike Girardi now has all six players on the roster at his disposal. Girardi said the return of Beatty will now allow a little breathing room for the team, which had been playing with five since Beatty’s injury.
“This now gives us a little insurance,” Girardi said. “We now can give the girls a breather and a little protection against foul trouble.”
Fouls were not a big problem for the Lady Rams, which have not seen a player foul out in eight games. Things got a little scary in the first half when two Rams both had three fouls, but neither of them would go beyond that.
The Panthers, although aggressive, found themselves digging their own grave as foul trouble forced out two of its players down the stretch. In the final six minutes of play, all but two of their points came from free-throws.
Gavilan, however, knew from a prior meeting that the game would be aggressive.
“We played them before,” said Jenn Tremblay, a freshman forward from Hollister. “We knew it was going to be tough. But we’re playing well. This is now four in a row.”
There were times that the Lady Rams were looking to the referees to make calls that either didn’t come all the time. Having met Hartnell before, Gavilan knew what to expect; however, not all games are the same.
“Hartnell plays aggressive,” Girardi said. “They want a fast tempo game. I told the girls that each game would be called differently and they would have to adjust.”
Gavilan was able to stay strong and let the Panthers get into foul trouble. To back up their tough play, the Lady Rams played strong defense, out-rebounding the Panthers by 17.
Gavilan is ranked third in the state in defense.
“Our opponents are averaging 47 points a game,” Girardi said. “And for us to only give up 38 was huge.”
Leading the charge was Tremblay, who came down with 20 boards to back up her 12 points. Also playing well was sophomore guards Sabrina Murphy, who had four points and 13 boards, and Nicole Donley, who had seven points and five rebounds.
In the first half, Gavilan played consistent and steady, passing the ball around and giving everyone a chance to score to build a 29-18 at the break.
Hartnell opened the second half on an 8-1 run in the opening five minutes, but Gavilan had an answer with a 17-0 run of their own that put the game out of reach.
“We stuck together and came out on top,” Beatty said. “We kept up the teamwork and we did our best.”
