Hollister girls basketball shooting for postseason success

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For the Hollister girls basketball team, it’s not a question of whether they’ll make the Central Coast Section playoffs, it’s a matter of how deep of a run they can make. 

Having made the Division 1 quarterfinals in each of the last three years, and having made the playoffs for a dozen years straight, the Balers’ goal is to make it to the section finals this year.

But before thinking of playing late into February, the team has already achieved its first goal by winning the Santa Clara Tournament title on Dec. 13, defeating Ann Sobrato High of Morgan Hill 38-30 in the tourney finale.

“That’s a cool thing for the girls to experience a championship,” Balers head coach Mitch Burley said. Burley is in his 14th year with the girls team.

The next goal is to finish in the top three in the league in order to earn an automatic spot in the playoffs.

The Balers didn’t start well this year, losing its first three games in a tournament in Fremont to begin the season. However, Hollister bounced back by winning its last four games after defeating Christopher High 51-36 on Dec. 19. The team now has a 4-3 overall record. 

“We got to a 0-3 start but we had a couple girls hurt and now we’re kind of finding our form,” Burley said. 

Among the keys to having a successful season, Burley said, is accurate shooting, which has been a focus for several seasons.

“That’s what we talk about every day,” Burley said. “We spend more time, probably half the practice, just shooting the ball.”

He said the team has struggled with 3-point shots over the years.

“We just have always gotten outshot from the 3-point line,” Burley said. “Hopefully we’ll have a game in the quarterfinals where we make all of our 3s and make the semis.”

Senior forward Madelyn Davis, who helped the Balers pull away from Christopher late in the third period after Christopher tied the game at 25 points thanks to a 19-5 run, said a key to making shots will be the players’ ability to stay calm.

“We have good shots, they just aren’t going in, but we’ll start making some for sure,” she said.

Burley said a strength of the team is its defense, playing both zone and man.

“We have probably three of the better defenders in the league,” he said. “So we’ll always be in the games because our defense has been really strong.”

Burley highlighted senior forward Daniela Orsetti, junior guard Jadah Gonzalez and sophomore guard Diana Martinez-Ruiz as the backbone of the defense.

Davis said the defense has stood out even when the team plays against taller players.

“All of the teams we’ve played have really tall girls and none of them have been able to dominate us,” she said. “A lot of our games have been really close, even when the girls are a lot bigger than us.”

Burley said Davis, who received Pacific Coast Athletic League Gavilan division first-team accolades last year, was another key player.

“She’s obviously going to do well,” he said.

Burley said though the team only has three seniors, the team is highly experienced at the varsity level. He said the team includes two juniors who have been on varsity since they were freshman and two sophomores who were on the team last year.

“They know each other, they know me, they know the things that we do well,” he said. 

The team will play in the Willow Glen Tournament starting Dec. 27 before league games begin in January.

BenitoLink thanks our underwriter, Hollister Rotary, for helping expand the sports coverage around San Benito County. Rotary is a nonprofit organization that conducts humanitarian projects, encourages high ethical standards, and works toward world understanding. All editorial decisions are made by BenitoLink.