Heading into last night’s contest at Sobrato, just about the
only thing the Gilroy girls basketball team had yet to accomplish
in the Tri-County Athletic League season was to show it can win on
the road as well as in the friendly confines of Bob Hagen
Gymnasium.
By Scott Campbell, Staff Writer
Morgan Hill – Heading into last night’s contest at Sobrato, just about the only thing the Gilroy girls basketball team had yet to accomplish in the Tri-County Athletic League season was to show it can win on the road as well as in the friendly confines of Bob Hagen Gymnasium.
Mission accomplished.
Roaring out of the gates with a 13-1 first-quarter run, the Mustangs jumped on the Bulldogs early and never let up, coasting to a dominant 67-21 win.
“We definitely want to bring our game, home or away,” said Gilroy head coach Kari Williams, whose team won its first five league games at home, but now faces a stretch of five in-a-row on the road. “I’ve told the girls this is going to be our test.”
For the Mustangs, “our game” meant using crisp passes to find open shots. It meant swarming Bulldogs’ dribblers and creating turnovers. And it meant crashing the boards and controlling the paint.
And all of that was just in the first quarter.
Seven different Mustangs scored as the team raced to a quick 19-3 lead, en route to a 24-8 advantage by quarter’s end.
“To just play hard defense and don’t let up,” said sophomore guard Amanda Spellman when asked her team’s mentality at tip-off. “Games can turn around in other people’s gyms. It’s not like a home game. We came out intense.”
Sobrato, still in its search of its first TCAL win as it learns on the fly with three freshmen starters, kept pace with Gilroy in the second quarter, but the Mustangs were quick to place that blame on themselves.
“At halftime, we realized that the second quarter was sloppy,” said Gilroy senior Sara Griffis. “We weren’t making good passes and we were turning the ball over. We needed to set up good shots, not just shoot ’em.”
As if their 34-17 halftime advantage wasn’t convincing enough, the Mustangs (17-4, 6-0 TCAL) completely overwhelmed the Bulldogs in the second half.
In a sequence typical of the evening, junior Dana Schoeneman secured a defensive rebound and fired an outlet pass to Kristen Campos. The senior point guard sped ahead of the Bulldogs in transition to create a 3-on-2 fast break, and found Katherine Hussey with a no-look pass for an easy lay-up.
With Sobrato (7-9, 0-6 TCAL) repeatedly misfiring and the Mustangs’ post players preventing any second-chance shots by cleaning up the defensive glass, the game quickly turned into a rout. Outscoring the Bulldogs 18-0 in the third quarter and 38-4 in the half, Gilroy emptied its bench and breezed to the finish.
“I’m really, really happy with the way we distributed the ball,” said Williams. “We got everyone some scoring tonight.”
Hussey fell just short in her bid for three consecutive 20+ point games, netting 19 points before giving way to the Mustangs’ reserves. The senior co-captain scored 17 in the first half, and finished with two three-pointers.
Jessica Groppe followed with 12 points, having her way with the Bulldogs on the block, and Russhelle Preeshl and Spellman contributed nine and eight points, respectively, off the bench for the Mustangs.
Sophomore Nina Baio led Sobrato with six points and freshmen center Laura Billos showed the hustle and intensity that should bode well for the Bulldogs down the road with her determined rebounding.
“We’re the team to beat in the league,” said Spellman. “We just need to work as a team and set the bar higher.”
