Outmanned and outsized, the Watsonville girls’ basketball team
never seemed to go away against Gilroy during Friday’s semifinals
of the Mustang Classic.
Outmanned and outsized, the Watsonville girls’ basketball team never seemed to go away against Gilroy during Friday’s semifinals of the Mustang Classic.
Despite suiting up just six players – and not scoring a basket until the second quarter – the scrappy Wildcatz trailed by just four with less than five minutes remaining.
That’s when they made the mistake of leaving Kristen Campos open. And that’s when the Gilroy point guard broke their back.
“They tried to dump back and play a zone in order to stop our inside game,” GHS head coach Kari Williams said. “But people gotta know to play defense on (Campos). She can shoot.”
And she did, connecting on back-to-back treys in just under a minute to give the Mustangs a 10-point lead. After that, Gilroy scored on nearly every possession and held on for a 52-44 win. In today’s 1:30 championship game, GHS faces Aptos, a convincing 69-28 winner over Monterey.
The Mustangs first had to get by Wildcatz, though – and that didn’t come easily.
In the first quarter, Gilroy jumped out to a 13-2 lead and held Watsonville without a field goal for the first 10 minutes of the game. But led by Selina Green, who scored 31 of her team’s 44 points, the ‘Catz clawed right back in it with a 13-3 run.
“We didn’t make any shots in forever it seemed,” Williams said. “We’d take one shot and have to get back on defense immediately.”
The Mustangs did have trouble on the boards – no one player had more than four on the night – and during a seven-minute stretch in the second quarter, Shanté Mancera’s second three-pointer of the game provided the only Gilroy points.
The Mustangs led 23-16 at the half, but were slightly outscored in the third despite an 8-0 run halfway through the quarter. When the Wildcatz connected on the first basket of the fourth, the lead was down to three.
They’d never get closer, though. In the next few minutes, Gilroy senior Katherine Hussey scored four of her team-high 12 points and fellow senior Michelle DiFiore chipped in a pair of key baskets and boards.
And, of course, there were the back-to-back bombs from the junior floor leader.
“Coach said if they weren’t going to come out and guard me, then go ahead and just shoot it,” Campos said. “So I did.”
And so her team moved on – moved on to seek its first Mustang Classic title since Williams took over the program in 2002.
“I don’t think we were as effective offensively or defensively as we could’ve been,” Williams said. “But on the other side of that, in the second half there were some moments of brilliance and the girls got it done when they needed to.
“I told them after the game the bottom line was that we got the win and that tomorrow is a new game and new day. They’re looking forward to it. It’ll definitely be our toughest challenge yet.”
Soccer shutout
After a brief two-game losing streak, the GHS girls’ soccer got back in the win column with a 6-0 shutout of North Monterey County Friday in Castroville.
“Our opponent wasn’t as conditioned as the last two and I think that had a lot to do with it,” Gilroy head coach Jose Hernandez said. “But the other part was that we were more focused in this game.
“Our goal in this game was to stay at our positions and not overcommit. And we executed.”
The Mustangs, who led 2-0 at halftime before blowing it open after the break, received goals from Amanda Bruce and Brittany Barnes and two a piece from Stephanie Glenn and Joann Olivo-Pedroza.
“Our focus was there the entire game,” Hernandez said. “We came out looking to control the game – and we controlled it.”
The Mustangs, now 7-2, will hit the road again Tuesday, facing the always-tough Aptos High.
MUSTANG CLASSIC
Other results:
Notre Dame (SJ) 74, Silver Creek 47
Gunderson 63, N. Monterey Co. 49
Aptos 69, Monterey 28
Today’s schedule
Notre Dame (SJ) vs. Gunderson (5th place)
Watsonville vs. Monterey (3rd place)
Gilroy vs. Aptos (Championship)
