Saints learn valuable lessons in loss to Napa Valley

SANTA CLARA -- Off to its best start under head coach Antonio Veloso, Mission College women's basketball returning home after a short Southern California trip but fell against Napa Valley, 66-53.

The Saints (4-3) are still looking to get over the hump and take down some of the states' top teams, with narrow losses to No. 20 Santa Barbara City and a strong Cuesta squad. On the other end, the Storm (5-2) battled adversity and came from behind to win against Mission for the third time in four years.

"It was another 50/50," said Veloso, in reference to the tossup-like games the Saints have lost to this point in the season. "We played well for three and couldn't close out for four."

Mission opened with the games' first eight points on some strong interior play from sophomore post Kaylani Trout-Lacy and strong ball movement on the wings. But their strength early on was their play on the boards and sticking to their gameplan on the defensive end. It's what Veloso and assistant coach Jerry Mukai harped on the entire week -- almost two weeks since their last game -- and the intensity was evident early on.

"I think we did a nice job on the rebounding side," said Veloso. "That is one of our weaknesses. Our whole gameplan was making them go left, I don't think they had one left-handed layup. But they found a way to always go right, which wasn't in the gameplan."

Napa Valley, which returned two all-conference guards and a post player who has started every game in her two years with the Storm, knew how to play from behind and clawed its way back into the game.

Sophomores Gabbie Gerrodette and Ashjeet Kaur, both guards, played tremendously in the early minutes. Gerrodette showed her in-and-out game by driving to the rim but also getting open around the perimeter off screens and hitting a big 3 early on. Kaur, one of the conferences' best point guards, played smart and continued her pace-setting offense by almost never forcing passes into bad lanes.

And while Veloso has kept the rotation relatively tight through the early portion of the season, he feels the team saw a lot from reserve forwards Mo Martinez and Kayla Patton. Neither had stellar games on the stat sheet, but both made strong impacts on the offensive boards and defending the interior.

"Both of them definitely [played well]," said Veloso. "Mo showed me some stuff that she slowly [has been doing] in practice. She boxes out, she drove kids underneath. They're both freshmen, but it's [about learning how to play] at this high speed."

Martinez gives the Saints a strong stretch-forward option if starting forward Maylin Wong needs to exit, like she did with a little bit of foul trouble against Napa Valley. Patton, maybe Mission's only true post outside of Trout-Lacy, is similar insurance for the Saints' most game-changing player.

Speaking of Trout-Lacy, she finished with her third double-double of the season, finishing second on the team with ten points and leading the game with 15 rebounds. She also added a block and her first steal since opening night, handling the rock from half court down to the other end and making a nice move past a streaking Napa Valley defender to finish the bucket.

"Send that to the coaches," Trout-Lacy joked, acknowledging the versatility she has that may not always show up on recruiting tape. "That was my first time doing that. But I just had to go up confident. At first I was scared, but you know what, it was good."

Mission also got a nice rebound performance from sophomore guard Alyssa Lopez, who finished tied for second on the team in scoring while adding six rebounds and knocking down a pair of 3's.

The Saints took their lead to a second half-high six with just over five minutes remaining with Gerrodette, who led the charge for the Saints with 13 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals, took a tumble finishing a transition layup and was unable to return. That seemed to mark the beginning of the end for Mission, as Napa Valley was able to pick up the pace to answer.

"What we didn't do, especially in the fourth quarter," said Veloso, "and it's partially my fault, because I don't go very deep in the bench yet -- they got tired. And we had defensive lapses. The first three quarters, we did a hell of a job with that. And then the last quarter, everything started slowing down on us."

With Gerrodette out, Napa Valley began drawing Trout-Lacy out from the interior, forcing her to play near the free throw line and opening up space in the paint. Storm guard Arianna Aguilar, who finished with a game-high 15, was the biggest beneficiary.

Still, it's a learning experience, one of the biggest reasons a team schedules 50/50 games like this at this point in the year.

"I learned how I can help my teammates," said Trout-Lacy. "I know I'll be up [defending] my person, but there are people behind me, there's an easy pass. That's where I need to learn where I can go, and I need to help. This also taught me communication. We need to communicate a lot. I feel like I know how to go about it next time."

Unfortunately for her, she'll have to wait a little longer than anticipated for that next time. The Saints' next game against Mendocino was cancelled, meaning they'll be back in action on the road at Marin next Friday for their next competition.