Bonita Varsity Girls Can’t Miss, Put on Free-Throw Shooting Clinic Late to Defeat Panthers, 53-43
Sarah Jackson finished seven points and eight rebounds.
To win league championships, you have to do all the little things right, including sinking pressure free throws with the game on the line. After Diamond Ranch trimmed Bonita’s lead to three points, 41-38, in the fourth quarter, the lady Bearcats basically went to work from the charity stripe, hitting 10 straight down the stretch to win going away, 53-43.
Oddly, the free-throw spree started after Bonita’s Ariana Abo missed two foul shots with the Bonita leading 43-38. The determined sophomore guard, however, stripped the ball from Diamond Ranch on the ensuing play before she was fouled again. This time, she calmly sank both shots, expanding Bonita’s lead to 45-38.
After Diamond Ranch’s Chelsea Barnes quickly scored to close the gap to 45-40, Abo was fouled once more and sank two more free throws, giving Bonita a 47-40 lead. After Barnes scored again, the Panthers’ hacked Bonita’s Sarah Jackson, who made two more free throws, pushing the score to 49-42. On the next trip down the floor, Nikki Wheatley sank two free throws, giving the Bearcats’ a commanding 51-42 lead. Bonita’s final points came on a pair of free throws by Brianna Kennedy.
“At half-time, we were only 50 percent from the free throw line,” Bonita coach Darren Baumunk said. “I told them we got to go out and make free throws.”
Coach Darren Baumunk was all smiles after seeing his team survive a tough match against the Panthers.
Before the game turned into a free-throw shooting clinic by Bonita, the tempo of the game was more like a track meet, with Wheatley leading the charge, driving and dishing the ball relentlessly. The stellar guard closed the night with 23 points, only briefly leaving the game to nurse a twisted ankle midway through the fourth period before she returned to lead Bonita’s attack.
“Nikki, she carries, she carries us,” Baumunk said, who a long time ago ran out of superlatives to describe the play of his super sophomore.
Bonita led Diamond Ranch, 13-8, at the end of the first quarter, using a full court pressure from the start to get some easy buckets. To start the second quarter, Bonita reeled off nine straight points, jumping out to a 22-8 lead before the Panthers started clawing back. At the half, Bonita led 28-20.
Barnes, who couldn’t get her shot to drop early, scoring only four points in the first two quarters for Diamond Ranch, found her stroke in the second half and ended the game with a team-high 16 points.
For Bonita, Abo finished with nine points to complement Wheatley’s game-high 23. Sarah Jackson finished with nine points and eight rebounds. What was surprising is that Bonita was able to win by double digits against a tough Panthers squad despite team captain Kennedy scoring only a deuce.
“We just got a find a way to get Bree into the game more,” said Baumunk, who might be on his way to a second coach of the year title. “If she can get in to the game, I think we’ll be unstoppable.
“She does so many things on the defensive side; if we get her going on the offensive side, we are going to be so much better.”
That could be a scary scenario for Bonita’s upcoming opponents. Bonita is now 7-0 in league and 19-3 on the season and currently ranked No. 77 in the state by Max Preps.
Per usual, Breeana Kennedy helped trigger several fast breaks with her superior rebounding and shot-blocking skills.
Leave a Reply