The California girls basketball team was making shots and getting stops in the first quarter in their season opener Thursday against Burrell.
But then the game turned in the second quarter as the Buccaneers’ suffocating press defense and opportunistic scoring took over in a 77-45 nonsection Burrell win.
“We like to pressure the ball, and that has to be a hallmark of our team,” Burrell coach Shawn Reddick said. “We want to fight for every possession and try to use our speed for steals. We are young, but those kids have high-energy and they just keep coming. When you press a team for that long, eventually they run out of plays and they get tired.”
This was Burrell’s fourth game of the season and Cal’s first.
“That was the difference in the game,” Cal coach Brandi Sutherland said. “You can see our rustiness in the game with our defense and our turnovers. We did not play our best on defense. Burrell is a quick team, and they were able to move around some screens. It was a tough matchup for us.”
Chase Coury collected 22 points for the Bucs (3-1) as they stretched their winning streak to three games after a season-opening defeat to Armstrong last weekend. Casey Brancato tallied 20 points in the win, and Peyton Coury (11) and McKenna Miller (nine) rounded out the offense.
“We ran a lot of good sets tonight on offense,” Reddick said. “We have a consistent inside-outside game. We want to work the ball inside, but we are OK if we take some shots on the outside. When you make some outside shots, that usually creates bigger lanes for driving.”
Hayley Gibson had a monster game for the Trojans (0-1) in the paint with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Lila Mitchell (nine) and Olivia Gibson (eight) combined for 17 points.
Cal grabbed the opening four points of the contest and then extended its lead to 10-4 after buckets by Madyson Morton and Olivia Gibson.
The visitors rallied with seven straight points. Then, after a hoop by the home team, Burrell made it 15-12 with buckets by Peyton and Chase Coury.
Hayley Gibson knotted things up at 15-15 via a three-point play with less than a minute left in the opening period and then gave the Trojans a 17-15 advantage with another interior hoop.
“It starts with our defense,” Sutherland said. “I thought we played good defense in that first quarter, and that limited their opportunities to press us. When they did pressure us, we made the correct pass and got into transition. I think we just got worn down and could not overcome some of our early jitters.”
It was a series of runs by both teams in the second quarter as the Bucs opened the frame with eight consecutive points, including a pair of 3-pointers by Brancato.
The Trojans responded with a 6-0 run before the visitors reclaimed the momentum with the final nine points of the second period for a 32-23 lead at halftime.
Brancato had 10 of her 20 points in the second stanza.
“Casey is our team leader,” Reddick said. “As she goes, we go. She is a four-year starter, and she is our captain. We expect this type of play from her every night. We put her in some tough situations, but what is great about Casey is she knows how to handle that pressure.”
After Cal scored four of the first six points in the third quarter, Burrell firmly put its foot on the gas pedal and took over the game with 13 consecutive points. The scoring onslaught was capped off by a 3 from Miller and a three-point play by Peyton Coury.
The Bucs finished the third with a 7-4 spurt as their lead ballooned to 54-31 at the end of the quarter.
Burrell grabbed eight of the first 11 points of the fourth quarter before Cal countered with an 8-3 run of their own that made it 65-42. The Bucs ended the night with a 12-3 spree.
Up next for the Trojans is the Aquinas Academy Tournament on Friday.
“We see a lot of positives out of tonight’s game,” Sutherland said. “We had a couple of freshmen out there and they got some good minutes from us. If we defend and rebound the ball more consistently, we will be good. We just have to learn how to deal with a press and cut down on our live-ball turnovers. It is our first game, and I know we can correct those mistakes.”
The Bucs are idle until a nonsection showdown with Mt. Pleasant on Monday.