PETALUMA, Calif - In a game which slowed down with a plethora of traveling violations and jump balls called, Petaluma’s Lady Trojans came out of dodge with a 37-28 victory over Sonoma Valley, who have struggled to score in the Trojan gym for the third straight year. Last year, the Dragons were held to just 22 points, and the year before, 18 points.
Both teams came right out and put on full court pressure to start the night. It was definitely an increase in intensity compared to non-league games.
“The intensity of the game changes when we press right away. It gets us going,” said Petaluma head coach Sophie Bihn.
Petaluma went into a zone defense daring Sonoma Valley to shoot the ball. The Dragons would have an off shooting night, but sharpshooter Jorvana Saldana was able to connect from long range in a scarcely scoring first quarter for Sonoma.
Petaluma (11-2, 1-0) got off to a good start by the way of Taylor Iacopi. An offensive rebound putback layup began the scoring, and Sheriene Arikat went to work after that, using her patented spin move lay up for a basket early on. Iacopi would add a three to put Petaluma ahead 6-4, and the Trojans would never trail after that.
Petaluma’s full court pressure was able to produce some results. A steal from Bella Weinberg turned into a transition lay up at the other end, and Arikat ended the quarter the same way, with the Trojans expanding to a 13-8 lead after the opening quarter in just 15 seconds.
“Our guards did a really good job of trapping tonight. It forced Sonoma into some tough situations,” Bihn said postgame.
Saldana would add another three in the second quarter, but captain Kennedy Midgley would have to leave the game after getting in some early foul trouble, leaving the Dragon defense vulnerable inside. Arikat was able to take advantage of that with two drives to the basket resulting in layups. After that, it opened up the outside for Rachel Bles to hit a long two, and Iacopi to drop in another shot from beyond the arc to open up 22-11 lead heading into the half.
Sonoma Valley (4-9, 0-2) would leave plenty of opportunities to score out on the table. They forced Petaluma post player Rose Nevin into some foul trouble, and continued to get to the foul line, getting into the bonus in the third quarter. Chelsey Crespo took advantage of Nevin getting out of the game by breaking away to the hoop untouched for two easy buckets, which cut Petaluma’s lead to just six.
The Trojans turned to Bella Weinberg to change that, as she hit a three off the glass to bring the lead back up to nine. Arikat added four more points in the period to make it 29-20 at the end of three.
An evenly played fourth quarter was a long one. A lot of clock stoppages made Petaluma fans anxious, feeling like the clock could not run fast enough. Sonoma Valley struggled mightily at the free throw line, in particularly Saldana, who was 0-6 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter. Overall, Sonoma was 4-19 from the line, good for 21%.
Three pointers from Weinberg and Iacopi sealed the deal in the final stanza, as did a pair of free throws from Mandy O’Keefe aiding Petaluma.
Arikat finished with 13 points and seven steals for Petaluma, with Iacopi adding 12 points and grabbing four rebounds.
“Sheriene (Arikat) did a great job of moving the ball tonight, and Taylor (Iacopi) also was excellent in moving without the ball, freeing her up for some open shots. All in all, we played well as a team tonight” commented Bihn
Petaluma will travel to defending VVAL champion Vintage-Napa, who is fresh off a 33-28 win over Justin Siena-Napa.
Sonoma Valley will step out of league play heading to Alhambra-Martinez on Saturday.
