Costa leads garlic offense in win over Head-Royce, 56-43, loss
to St. Francis
SEASIDE – It took a total team effort for the Lady Mustang hoopsters to pull away from Head-Royce High in Friday’s opening game of the Seaside Sweet 16 Tournament, and that’s what they got.
Gilroy fought off a third-quarter rally to clinch an impressive 56-43 victory over the Oakland-based school to reach Saturday’s second round against private power Saint Francis.
“We had a really good game from the whole team. We really played a good fourth quarter,” second-year head coach Kari Williams said. “We were ahead and then we kinda let them get back into the game a little bit in the third quarter and really just took care of business the last couple of minutes of the game and pulled out a 13-point victory.”
Junior forward Kendall Costa led the Mustang charge with a team-high 14 points, while senior center Sarah Hoeft added 11 points, including a 5-of-5 trip at the free throw line. But the garlic hoopsters needed its entire roster to claim victory, as junior forward Michelle DiFiore and sophomore point guard Kristen Campos netted eight points apiece; junior guard Shante Mancera had six; senior forward Antoinette Okere had four; and sophomore forward Catherine Hussey had two.
“It was really, really a good team effort,” said Williams, whose squad then fell to St. Francis on Saturday to set up Monday’s rematch against Seaside.
Costa once again led the offense with a team-high eight points, while Mancera, DiFiore, and sophomore guard Marissa Nowakowski put in six points each. Along with Hussey’s four points, Okere and junior Amanda Link netted two points apiece. Hoeft battled foul trouble throughout the contest.
After falling behind 18-12 in the opening quarter, the Lady Mustangs rallied back to tie the score at 23-23 before heading into the half-time break. But Gilroy found itself behind again in the third quarter, allowing St. Francis to build a seven-point lead.
“We played a really, really good first half with them,” Williams said. “They scored a little bit and we missed some lay-ups and some opportunities to score in the third quarter.”
The Lady Mustang shooters then went completely cold in the final quarter, scoring only three points against the tough team defense put forth by St. Francis.
“They played some really tough defense and we had some turnovers late in the game that hurt us,” Williams said. “But in general, we really did a good job in the first half. … We didn’t score a lot, especially in the second half, but we looked the best we’ve looked probably all season as far as defensively.”
The Lady Mustangs are still alive in the Seaside Sweet 16, hoping to avenge an earlier loss to Seaside when they played without Hoeft and Campos. Senior guard Sarah Miller is still out with a knee injury and her return is uncertain.
“We’re looking forward to the rematch,” Williams said. “It’s going to be a good basketball game.”
