Lady Monarchs get defensive, score big
- Updated: December 1, 2021
2021 EAST COUNTY PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL
MONTE VISTA 48, ST. JOSEPH ACADEMY 32
By Dave Dickens
EastCountySports.com
SAN MARCOS (11-29-2021) — After a nail-biter over fellow Grossmont Conference foe El Cajon Valley, 41-37, without injured starters Sami Gonzalez and Meadow Delino, out of town for the holiday, the Monte Vista Lady Monarchs were able to get it done.
Coming into the bout, St. Joseph Academy (0-2) and Monte Vista (3-1), it will usually hand over a slight advantage when the away team has to take the time to load up the bus, pile in like sardines, and head to the north county for what should end up a Monarch victory.
As the first quarter came to a conclusion, the Lady Monarchs were up by a slight advantage, 12-10, however, there was plenty of basketball to be played.
The most impressive defensive performance in the second quarter, in particular, was led by Lady Monarch Saniya Raley.
“She was quite impressive,“ said head coach Sabrina Jimenez.
Monte Vista held the Crusaders to a shutout in the second quarter, 9-0, leaving the visiting Monarchs up 21-10 at the halfway mark.
The second half became nerve-racking as they made their way through but with a slight scoring match offensively for the Crusaders. At the end of the third quarter, it was a tie at 11-all with a total of seven points on behalf of Lina DeLeon, and four added from Delino.
As SJA drew closer, the Lady Monarchs ended up scoring five more points to seal the deal in the fourth quarter.
The score in the fourth quarter ended up 16-11 and the final score was 48-32, in favor of the Lady Monarchs.
DeLeon led the scoring with seven points including a three-pointer.
“We had a great defense, obviously not perfect, yet, our defense generated a lot of our defense, Saniya did a tremendous job on putting ball pressure on the point guard. That in turn led to many turnovers because of the defense, which turned into points. I obviously look for ways to score without forcing it up there. Lina runs the floor so well and I’m able to find her in transition, and she converts,” said Delino.
Let us not forget, if not for the defensive play of Raley, the Lady Monarchs might have had a long, quiet, and somber bus ride home.
“Our pregame chat was to start off strong on offense and defense. We really wanted to push ourselves on defense and be the fastest, scrappiest, team. My role in this game was to apply as much pressure as possible on defense to set my teammates up for steals and fast breaks,” said Raley.
EL CAMINO 83, HELIX 13 — The Wildcats won the season-opener for both clubs in Escondido at a tournament.
OTAY RANCH 74, VALHALLA 7- The Lady Norsemen were on the wrong side of the lopsided score but are still 2-1 on the season following their first loss.
