Capuchino wallops Wallenberg

Capuchino coach Mike Trimble wasn't buying any of it.

"You can talk about a bunch of different reasons but the bottom line is, [Wallenberg] didn't have school today either," Trimble said.

In the second half, however, the Mustangs shook off their doldrums, turned up the heat on both ends of the court and came away with a 56-42 win over the Bulldogs.

"We didn't show up in the first half. We were a half step slow," Trimble said. "In the second half … the kids really responded well."

Capuchino (8-3) forced Wallenberg into 25 turnovers — 14 coming in the second half. The Mustangs turned those mistakes into easy baskets, half of which resulted in layups.

Bianca Mercurio led the way for Capuchino, scoring a team-high 16. Adele Faataui was right behind her with 15. Marissa Guerrero and Laura Leahy each chipped in with eight points.

The Mustangs put a stubborn Wallenberg team away in the third quarter. Mercurio started the second half with a steal and layup, Leahy added a base-line jumper and Faataui had a putback to put Capuchino up eight, 32-24.

The Bulldogs answered with back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the Mustangs lead to two.

Trimble said in the past, his team might have hung their heads as they saw a lead disintegrate, but the more games the Mustangs play, the better they get.

"We've learned from each game," Trimble said.

So how did the Mustangs respond to the Bulldogs' mini-run? They ripped off a 11-0 run, coming up with three straight steals while holding Wallenberg scoreless over the final 5:16 of the third quarter, taking a 43-30 lead into the final eight minutes.

The Bulldogs refused to go away, however. After a Faataui layup increased the Mustangs' lead to 15, 45-30, Wallenberg outscored Capuchino 8-3 to pull with 10.

It would be as close as the Bulldogs would get as the Mustangs again put the pedal to the metal, outscoring Wallenberg 8-4 down the stretch.

Capuchino used good ball movement and cutting to get good looks at the basket. In the first, on back-to-back possessions, Faataui drove the baseline and when a Wallenberg player came to cut her off, Faataui hit Mercurio and then Guerrero as they flashed into the lane for easy layups.

In the second half, Guerrero hit Leahy with a couple of nice passes. Leahy, in rhythm, stroked a base-line jumper and then another from the free-throw line.

"One thing we did real well was read the defense more. Laura and Marissa teamed up well," Trimble said. "All that stuff takes time. They just need to play together."