First quarter hurts AmCan in home loss
Late comeback not enough for American Canyon
With a young team, American Canyon High girls basketball coach Angela Davis has seen plenty of ups and downs all season.
On Tuesday, Davis saw the ebbs and peaks during a Vine Valley Athletic League contest with visiting Sonoma Valley.
The ebbs included no field goals and nine turnovers in the first quarter. The peaks included
a spirited second-half comeback that saw the Wolves pull to within four points.
Unfortunately for American Canyon, that was as close as it would get in the sloppy 43-37 defeat.
“We’re still learning. We’re a young team and still making adjustments,” Davis said. “Once we get going, it flows very smoothly. The players are learning what
works against what defense so we’re allowing them a little freedom to read what the defense gives them and not necessarily trying to run a play.”
Fortunately for the Wolves, the Dragons (7-10, 3-2) weren’t much better in the first quarter as they turned the ball over seven times themselves and led just 7-3. The two teams looked like they would rival Betty Crocker for turnovers in one day.
The Wolves (8-12, 1-4) finally ended their field goal drought at the 7:06 mark
of the second quarter on Louralei Salanga’s jumper. Later in the quarter American Canyon was within 15-11 after a put-back from Olivia Gradington before Sonoma scored five of the final six points of the half to lead 20-12 heading into the locker room. Sidney Smith connected on a putback and Audrey Powers nailed a 3-pointer in that run.
The Dragons threatened to blow the game open in the third quarter as a 10-0 run put them up 30-12. Jovana Saldana knocked down two 3-pointers in that spurt and finished with a game-high 21 points.
The Wolves could have been buried at that point
but a runner from Salanga spurred an 11-3 run that cut the lead to 10 points at 3323. Gradington finished off the run with a three-point play and American Canyon’s enthusiasm seemed to wake up as well.
“One thing that we’ve really been good at is being able to put together a second half,” Davis said. “What we will have to need to improve on is our first half and knocking down a few more free throws would help as well.”
American Canyon then began the fourth quarter with a 10-4 spurt, pulling to 38-34 on a shot in the paint from Cameron Genteroy. The Wolves forced a turnover and had another
possession to make it a onepossession game but turned the ball over themselves.
Finally, Sonoma helped ice it when Saldana found Chelsey Crespo cutting to the hoop to push the lead back to six points.
Genteroy finished with a team-high nine points and added two assists, two steals and four boards. Amaree Bennett had all eight of her points in the second half and added two steals. Gradington added five points and seven boards.
The Wolves junior varsity team won 44-42 as American Canyon helped seal the win with a late steal.