Sports
Girls Basketball: Eagles Snatch League Crown from Defending Champion Broncos
Super sophomore Allen leads Clayton to their 11th consecutive league victory.
Clayton Valley 46, Northgate 34
The Star: Clayton’s lead guard Ashley Allen was scintillating and absolutely packed the box score with 16 points, eight rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals. Allen controlled the tempo offensively and found open teammates all over the court.
The Turning Point: The Eagles clung to a tenuous two-point advantage over Northgate at halftime but even after his halftime speech, coach Bernard Barnes was not satisfied with his teams’ body language and performance to start the second half. Thirty seconds into the third quarter, Barnes called a timeout and pulled aside his two post players, Molly Kommer and Sarah Nelson, urging them to step-up. Nelson and Kommer responded immediately blocking three shots on defense to key an 18-7 third quarter run, which pushed the game out of the Broncos’ reach.
Find out what's happening in Concordfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The Quote: “I am so happy for them. They have been working so hard all year for this. They have been looking forward to this for so long. I have the easy job because I get to sit and watch. They actually have to go out and play.” —Clayton Valley coach Bernard Barnes.
What’s Next: Clayton Valley looks to finish off its perfect league season on the road against Berean Christian next Tuesday at 7 p.m. Northgate plays next Friday at 7 p.m. against Mt. Diablo.
Find out what's happening in Concordfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Bottom Line: The Eagles missed more lay-ups and easy shots around the basket than any other game this season and still beat defending DVAL champion Northgate by 12. Clayton Valley will certainly pop the Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider tonight, but one can only imagine Monday’s practice will be ripe with Mikan lay-up drills.
——————————
You have to beat the champ to be the champ.
Friday night bowled over defending Diablo Valley Athletic League champion in Walnut Creek, 46-34, to secure its first league title since Northgate joined the DVAL in 2008.
The Broncos faithful came to honor their record setting shooter Kayla Galanter and gritty point guard Tess Soper on senior night and hoped their home court advantage could tip the scales against a powerful Eagles squad. Unfortunately for Creeker’s everywhere, they left disappointed.
The Eagles came for one reason: the DVAL banner.
Coach Bernard Barnes said after the second game of the season, , that he believed Northgate was the league’s top team but he let on that his team matched-up extremely well.
Barnes emphasized that his teams’ size and athleticism would challenge the Broncos and in their second meeting of the season, Northgate had no answer for the dominant shot blocking and rebounding of Sarah Nelson and Molly Kommer.
Nelson collected 14 rebounds and swatted four shots, while Kommer grabbed eight rebounds and blocked two shots.
The Broncos also had no player capable of neutralizing the über athletic Ashley Allen.
“(Ashley) does everything for us,” Barnes said. “She defends, sets teammates up and she can get her own shot. It is really fun to play with a player like that where everyone pays so much attention to them as a scorer and they can find an open teammate for a shot.
“I cannot say enough about her.”
Allen was the catalyst against Northgate scoring a game-high 16 points to go with eight rebounds, four assists and a pair of blocks and steals.
Allen pulled the Eagles through a lackluster first half where they led 20-18, but were playing at the Broncos pace.
Northgate was content in allowing Soper to dribble and probe the Clayton defense deep into the shot clock. The Broncos routinely launched with only a second or two remaining on the 35-second clock to stall the lethal Eagle fast break and cut down on the number of possessions to effectively shorten the game.
Soper impressively scored three separate times to beat the buzzer, but she was unable to find a teammate with a hot hand.
The Clayton defense was suffocating from the end of the first quarter on, only allowing 22 points in the final three periods.
“Defense won the game for us tonight,” said an excited Allen.
The Eagles struggled to find their offensive touch in the first half but watched their star guard take over in the third.
Allen made the play of the game with an impressive crossover into the lane which was followed by a no-look, left-handed pass to Taryn Pascal for the nifty lefty lay-up.
The Clayton players seemed slightly uncomfortable celebrating on Northgate’s home court. They huddled briefly jumping up and down and wore toothy smiles but they seemed to expect victory, even if it was finally slaying Northgate, the DVAL giant.
The Eagles look to put the finishing touches on their perfect regular season against an up-start Berean Christian team, who Clayton Valley downed 55-37 in their first meeting.
Notes: Captain Karley Menez had 10 points and four rebounds. Gina Del Bene led the defensive attack with three steals. Soper led Northgate with five assists while teammate Greer Kleber grabbed nine rebounds.
Clayton Valley 46, Northgate 34
1
2
3
4
F
12
8
18
8
46
12
6
7
9
34
Individuals — (fg ftm-fta tp)
Clayton Valley
Pascal 1 0-0 2, Kommer 3 3-3 9, Menez 4 0-1 10, Gina Del Bene 0 2-3 2, Allen 6 4-9 16, Nelson 4 0-0 8. Totals 18 7-16 46.
Northgate
Kleber 2 1-2 6, Sussman 2 0-0 6, Galanter 3 0-0 7, Soper 4 0-0 9, Holder 0 0-3 0, Mungo 1 0-0 2 Hearn 2 0-0 4. Totals 14 1-5 34.
3-point goals: Sussman 2, Menez 2, Kleber Galanter, Soper.
Fouled out: None.
Records: Clayton Valley 23-2, 11-0 DVAL; Northgate 16-9, 9-2 DVAL.
Diablo Valley Athletic League, girls basketball, 2/11/11
