El Capitan’s constant pressure wears down Merced as Gauchos open CCC play with victory
The goal each night for the El Capitan High girls basketball team is to turn every game into a fast-paced, full-court contest.
From start to finish the Gauchos pressure full court after made baskets, free throws and even after missed shots.
“We’re small,” said El Capitan coach Tyler Dietz. “Every team we play is bigger than us. If we play a traditional half-court defense everybody is going to post us up. We have to make the game fast. We can’t get caught in a half-court game.”
The Gauchos’ up-tempo style wore down Merced as El Capitan (12-3 overall) opened Central California Conference play with a 58-44 victory at the Stable Center in a battle of two teams who hope to be contenders and challenge Atwater for the CCC crown this season.
The Gauchos’ press forced the Bears into turnovers, which led to some easy baskets in a first half that saw El Capitan open up a 43-28 lead after the second quarter.
Merced was able to cut down on giving up the easy baskets in the second half but the Bears were unable to mount a comeback late. Tired legs may have been a big reason Merced was only able to score four fourth-quarter points.
“Their press definitely took its toll on us,” said Bears coach Willie Steverson, whose team dropped to 1-1 in the CCC and 11-7 overall. “In the first half we gave them the basketball and gave them easy buckets. We figured out how to handle the press in the second half, but at the end of the day the press did take a toll on us. We were gassed.”
After rolling to 43 points in the first half, the Gauchos stalled offensively themselves, only scoring 15 points in the second half.
Dietz chalked it up to their youth with so many first-year varsity players playing in their nine-girl rotation.
“I was really happy with our first half,” Dietz said. “We had a lot of mental mistakes in the second half. We have a lot of sophomores and juniors closing out the game.”
Madysen Dietz and Avnoor Bains led the Gauchos in scoring with 14 points each. Jordynn Middleton added 13 points Dietz added eight rebounds and five steals and Bains finished with seven rebounds and five steals.
Shantelle Magana added seven points, 10 rebounds and seven steals for the Gauchos.
“We demand a lot from our players,” Tyler Dietz said. “Practices are intense. To play this style for 32 minutes we have to be in shape. We run a lot so we still have our legs in the fourth quarter.”
The Bears were led by Amiya Brown and Averie Steverson, who both scored 12 points.
“I like that we kept fighting the whole time,” Willie Steverson said. “We continued to battle to the end of the game and that was good to see.”
