Tracy Press

West High’s Angelina Drummer and St. Mary’s High’s Alle Moreno fight for a rebound during second-quarter action in their Thursday game. Photo by Enrique Gutierrez/Tracy Press.

West’s Kristine Jurgens recovers a loose ball in front of the Rams’ Annissa Garcia. Photo by Enrique Gutierrez/Tracy Press.

At a glance
St. Mary’s 85, West 45

The St. Mary’s Rams applied their relentless full-court press against the West High girls basketball team Thursday, leading the way to an 85-45 Rams victory, the final Wolf Pack home game of the 2007-08 regular season.

In spite of the lopsided score, West coach Joe Lawrence and his players said they did well against a team that completed a 28-0 overall season (10-0 in the Tri-City Athletic League) and beat the Wolf Pack 89-30 in their previous contest in Stockton.

The Rams’ in-your-face defense forced repeated steals and turnovers, and often resulted in fouls called in the Rams’ favor. When West did get through the back court, the girls found open lanes and make their shots. But St. Mary’s did the same, only more often.

The loss puts West at 8-2 in TCAL play, beaten only by St. Mary’s, and 22-5 overall. The Wolf Pack will likely keep their high standing in the Sac Joaquin Section Division I playoff bracket next week and have the home-court advantage in the first round.

St. Mary’s is the top-seeded team in Division III, and is in a different bracket than West.
“We had a very tough league this year, so any competition we see in the playoffs won’t be any tougher than any team in our league,” said Lawrence. “There won’t be any teams like St. Mary’s."

The St. Mary’s press often resulted in Rams’ sophomore guard Chelsea Gray or Afure Jemerigbe grabbing West passes and bringing the ball back for a score. Gray scored 28 points, including six of the Rams’ 11 3-point shots, and Jemerigbe scored 15.

St. Mary’s coach Tom Gonsalves said the press is a strategy that made St. Mary’s unbeatable this year.

“That’s kind of our label,” he said. “It’s really effective when we have that kind of speed. We try to keep the pressure on and try to wear teams down. It makes them play faster than they’re used to playing.”

When guards Angelina Drummer and Devin Brown got the ball down-court quickly, there were open players such as freshman guard April Bernal waiting. Bernal scored three field goals in the third, and four for the game.

Bernal said afterward that the team was ready for St. Mary’s fast-paced and aggressive game.
“We already knew what we were up against, and we were going to show them,” Bernal said.
“We tried really hard to break their press, and we did break their press,” junior guard Akina Silva added.

(S) St. Mary’s 85, West 25

The Rams charged into an early 30-3 lead at the end of the first quarter and outscored the Pack (7-3 TCAL, 16-9 overall) consistently.

West’s Liu Dellafosse was the Pack’s top scorer with six. West coach Joe Hernandez said that his team put up a respectable effort against the top team in the league.

“It’s our last game and we came out to have fun,” he said. “They played hard all game.”

(F) St. Mary’s 59, West 40

St. Mary’s took an early lead, but the Wolf Pack started to close the gap in the second quarter.
Coach Martin Miller said the Rams forced repeated turnovers early in the third quarter to regain the momentum.

It was an uphill battle from there, Miller said, but his girls were up to the task.

“They battled the whole 32 minutes and didn’t give up,” he said.

The loss puts the Pack at 8-2 in TCAL and 20-5 overall. Analisa Green scored 20 points and also pulled down 21 rebounds on the night to lead her team’s effort.

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written by Doh! , February 15, 2008

Guess we should buy the Stockton Record if we want those
varsity stats.