Justin-Siena girls roll past American Canyon 65-47, claiming third straight VVAL tourney title

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The Justin-Siena Varsity Girls Basketball Team are the Vine Valley Athletic League tournament champions. Kyle Foster photo — The Justin-Siena Varsity Girls Basketball Team are the Vine Valley Athletic League tournament champions. *Kyle Foster photo*

When you’re playing a good team, a good start to the game is something you can do to get some separation. Now everyone says they want a fast start, but actually doing so is another thing.

In Friday’s Vine Valley Athletic League tournament championship game, this is what No. 1 seed Justin-Siena did as they beat No. 3 American Canyon, 65-47, at Messner Gym on the Napa High campus.

The Braves (23-7) took control from the start and never looked back. After all, they opened the game up with a 7-0 run to seize control.

“It’s something we’ve struggled with a little bit this year, honestly,” Justin-Siena head coach Andy Bettencourt explained. “We talked about bringing the energy right from the start, making sure we were dialed in in warm-ups, and the girls did a heck of a job of coming out and setting the tone right away.”

Justin-Siena put the game away with an 8-0 run in the fourth quarter to get the lead back to double-digits.

However, the Braves knocked down eight shots from the three-point line in the game as well. This ended up being key in getting the win.

“I thought one of the reasons that we fell short last year was we didn’t shoot the three-ball well enough,” Bettencourt said. “It’s something we’ve committed to a little more this year, been more intentional about. And we are lucky that we have kids that knock down shots.”

But the other thing that helped was the fact that they were led by a pair of scorers in double figures.

Justin-Siena's Dylan Zapolski dribbles through American Canyon girls basketball players. Kyle Foster photo — Justin-Siena’s Dylan Zapolski dribbles through American Canyon girls basketball players. *Kyle Foster photo*

Leading them all in the game was senior Lauren Keller. She finished with a game-high of 26 points and six rebounds. She knocked down six of seven free throws in the game as well.

“Tonight, the ball movement was great,” Keller pointed out. “I’m really lucky. My teammates found me. They’re very unselfish players. So honestly, I give all that credit to them. I mean, it was really through their assist that I was I was able to find the ball go through the hoop.”

Keller got off to a good start in the game, too. She opened up the game with seven points in the first quarter and then again scored that number in the third. Keller also scored 13 points in the first half of the game.

“In the beginning of the game, I was just trying to do my best to kind of get us to have a fiery start,” Keller said of her starting first quarter and overall strong opening half. “We talked in the locker room about how important it was to us to start with a bunch of energy, kind of start from the beginning, make our mark early on, and I think I just had that go inside of my head.”

Also helping out with the scoring with a nice effort was senior Caiden Grimmer. She added 21 points and four rebounds.

“Caiden Grimmer is an absolutely phenomenal athlete that has spent most of her time as a softball player, which is fair because she’s going to do it in college,” Bettencourt pointed out. “But I think sometimes she can get underestimated, how athletic and how just good she is. She does whatever our team needs. She often guards the other team’s best player. She’s such a good facilitator of our offense. But tonight, you saw something else she can do, which is knock down open shots and get to the rim.”

Grimmer added 12 points in the second half and made four shots from beyond the arc in the game.

Grimmer and Keller also complimented each other all night, which made it hard to stop either one of them.

“She’s awesome,” Keller added. “I love playing with her, and I’m so grateful that she transferred. She’s a very unselfish player, so our ability to look for each other just kind of comes naturally.”

Others scoring in the game for the Braves were Haven Stone (7 points, 2 rebounds), Caroline Jonas (5 points, 1 rebound), Payton Padowan (3 points, 3 rebounds), Alyssa Vargas (2 points, 3 rebounds), and Katie Kelleher (1 point, 4 rebounds, 2 blocked shots).

With the win, Justin-Siena has now won the tournament title in three-straight years. This cements them as the current girls’ basketball dynasty in the league.

“It means a lot to me,” Keller said of the three-peat as both regular season and league tournament champions. “Honestly, I feel like it’s a reflection of our hard work and our ability to play as a team. So, it’s really exciting, and I think we’re excited for bigger and better things, obviously, in the postseason. But tonight was really important to us, and I’m glad that all of us stepped up and played really well together as a team.”

They will now await their seeding in the CIF North Coast Section playoffs that begin next week. To view the brackets, you can go here.