M-A girls fall to North Salinas

"Turnovers are a killer,” said M-A coach Pam Wimberly, whose team finished with a season-high 31 turnovers. "All the credit goes to North Salinas. The team we saw Wednesday wasn’t the same team we played tonight.”

Indeed, the top-seeded Vikings (24-3) looked nothing like the team that had  to eke out an ugly 25-24 win  over San Benito in the semifinals. Instead, North Salinas played like a No. 1 seed, creating turnovers with its defense and pulling away with superior outside shooting. M-A kept things close in the first half before North Salinas pulled away in the third quarter.

The Vikings’ Alyssa Ayala was simply unstoppable, scoring all 16 of her points in the final two quarters and in the process outscoring the entire M-A team in that span by a point (the Bears finished with just 15 second-half points). The key sequence of the game came midway through the third with North Salinas up by six points.

That’s when Ayala went off, hitting three 3-pointers as part of an 11-4 run to give the Vikings a 36-24 lead after three quarters. The Bears couldn’t get anything going offensively in the latter stages, with Tennyson Jellins (10 points and 17 rebounds) the only player to finish in double-figure scoring. M-A’s best player, Jessica Tuliau, was held to five points.

"They took Jess and Victoria (Fakalata) out of the game, and we didn’t have enough players step up tonight,” Wimberly said.  

Even when North Salinas was struggling with its shot, it created scoring chances with its defense. The Vikings scored 22 points off their full-court pressure, and once Ayala got hot — she drained four treys in rapid-fire fashion — the game was over. Despite the loss, Wimberly expressed pride in her team’s effort. When the Bears entered Peninsula Athletic League play, it was 5-9 and the playoffs were the furthest thing from their mind.

But M-A rebounded and not only made the postseason but made it all the way to the section finals with a number of strong performances. Tuliau often paved the way with her sweet shooting stroke and smooth game, and Fakalata came on particularly strong in the second half of the season, providing the Bears with a strong post presence.

"I don’t know if I’ve had a team come this far in a short amount of time,” Wimberly said. "Who would’ve thought a No. 10 seed would play in the championship game? I wish we could’ve brought it home, but the better team won tonight. We just ran out of steam in the fourth quarter, and I think the girls got frustrated. But I’m very proud of this group. A lot of them never played varsity basketball until this year and they’ve matured a lot as the season has gone on.”