Gilroy
– Kristen Campos was fouled hard as she put a beautiful spin
move on a Live Oak defender near the hoop late in the third quarter
of Tuesday’s game.
Gilroy – Kristen Campos was fouled hard as she put a beautiful spin move on a Live Oak defender near the hoop late in the third quarter of Tuesday’s game.
She popped right back on her feet and within seconds drained a 3-pointer from the right baseline off the inbounds pass.
It was that kind of night for the Gilroy girls’ basketball team, which breezed by Live Oak 68-36 on an evening when it was raining buckets both outside and inside the GHS Main Gym.
All 11 Mustangs suited up to play got in the game against their Morgan Hill rivals. Ten of them had at least one field goal. As Gilroy gears up for a final TCAL tilt with Salinas Thursday and then the CCS playoffs, head coach Kari Williams was pleased to see the interchangeability that is the hallmark of her defensive press and offensive sets working as smoothly as it did.
“We scored a lot of points. We took a lot of shots,” Williams said. “We got points in transition, which is what we worked on all week. We want to use Thursday (against Salinas) for more gearing it up, as a tune-up for CCS.
“Not that we’re looking past them,” the coach added with a smile, more than aware that the Cowboys’ nine-point win over Gilroy on Feb. 2 is still a sticking point.
Amanda Link led the Mustangs in scoring with 12 points. The center almost single-handedly kept the Gilroy offensive machine rolling with three buckets early in the third quarter, when Live Oak put together its best run of the game to get within 10 points at 36-26 on a Colleen Henningsen offensive rebound and putback jumper.
The Acorns, outrebounded decisively throughout the game, nevertheless put together several strong moves on the offensive glass, notable in the second quarter when guard Amanda Lytle and forward Mattie Borges cleaned up misses for easy putbacks.
But in the end, Gilroy’s mix of relentless defensive pressure and steady ball movement on offense broke the Acorns down completely.
Gilroy wound up the first half with a pair of fast breaks that saw Campos dishing first to forward Kendall Costa and then to backcourt mate Shanté Mancera for easy lay-ins.
That was just a warm-up act for the fourth quarter, when the ‘Stangs cavorted to an 11-0 run to open the final frame, showcasing the transition game Williams and her girls had worked on.
“They beat up on us inside,” said Live Oak coach Jeff Perkins. “We had a little run in the second half, but then they opened it up on us. Gilroy is a very good team.
“They’re going to go far in the playoffs.”
Before those start, though, the Mustangs have some business to attend to. “I’m really looking forward to Salinas,” said Costa. “I want to get back at them for that loss.”
