Johansen girls basketball evens WAC record with dominant win over Beyer
Western Athletic Conference play tipped off just two weeks ago, and members of the Johansen girls basketball team know they have to make up some ground.
The Vikings lost two winnable games early in WAC play, falling in their league opener to Pacheco by one point and losing in overtime to league leader Lathrop in their last outing on Thursday.
“We had some tough losses in the beginning,” said Vikings coach Derrick McLaughlin. “Those two losses right there already give us, you know, kind of a balanced route.
Johansen (12-8, 3-3) was all business Tuesday, using a dominant third quarter to beat Beyer 58-39 and even their league record at 3-3.
“We’re looking up in the standings right now,” McLaughlin said. “We understand that we only have about eight games left so we kind of got to make things work to take care of business. Beyer’s a quality opponent, but tonight we understood what they were going to do. … We’re just playing one game at a time.”
Johansen forward Alize Martinez found ways to score despite facing double teams all night.
She put back offensive rebounds, took defensive rebounds coast-to-coast for layups and knocked down a first half wing three, finishing with 22 points, eight rebounds, eight steals and three blocks.
“Usually every game I expect double teams, but I just try to work around the ball and drive and pass out,” said Martinez.
Junior Bethany Albarran made 2 three-pointers, scoring 10 points and junior Jamie Zarilla nearly recorded a triple double with six points, nine rebounds and eight steals.
The Patriots’ (4-13, 2-3) offense never had the chance to get going.
Johansen used a 2-2-1 zone press to minimize the attack of sophomores Kylie Kulina and Alana Dancer. Kulina entered the game on a tear with games of 40, 30 and 42 points. She led Tuesday’s contest with 23 points.
“We figured that if we press, there’s more opportunities for us,” McLaughlin said. “We like to try to create a little bit of havoc in the back court and move forward with that.
“I think the press is what set the tone.”
After leading 24-16 at halftime, Johansen scored 22 points in the third quarter and allowed just 12. The Vikings opened up a 20-point advantage, 46-26, late in the period.
“We had a talk about how to fix it and we only spoke positively,” Martinez said. “We don’t speak negatively about stuff. We all were telling each other what we can do better.”
The good news this season is that the Vikings are higher in the league standings than they were a year ago.
Last season, they started league play 1-4 before winning eight of their last nine WAC games.
The bad news? Despite starting league play 3-3, they’re still on the outside looking in on this year’s playoff picture. They are hoping Tuesday’s win gives them momentum to finish the season as one of the WAC’s top three teams.
“This game gives us an opportunity,” McLaughlin said. “The way that we work is every game matters from now on. We don’t control our own destiny. At the end of the day, we’re going to go for this with everything that we got. Every team matters, every game is respected. At the end of the day, we’re just trying to get back to playoffs.”
This story was originally published January 18, 2023 at 11:12 AM.
