Bell-Jeff Scoring Barrage!

BELLARMINE-JEFFERSON HIGH — The Bellarmine-Jefferson High girls’ basketball team did all it could not to pour it on against St. Genevieve.

Guards pull back and still gain 70-19 league win against St. Genevieve.

The Guards did little cheering on the court, there was no overt celebrations and the hosts even held the ball at times to run out the clock instead of attacking the basket.

Bell-Jeff is not about embarrassing anyone. And against a vastly outmanned Valiants squad, the Guards could have easily run their guests into the ground Thursday.

Even with the concessions, Bell-Jeff was still able to roll to an easy 70-19 Santa Cruz League victory at Bell-Jeff.

“It’s all about respect, no matter who you’re playing against,” Bell-Jeff Coach Bryan Camacho said. “We want to respect the game of basketball and respect our opponent. I was really proud of the way the girls handled themselves during the game. They did a tremendous job.”

The discrepancy between the teams was so great that a running clock in the second half wasn’t enough to derail the Guards (19-5, 5-0 in league) — the No. 1 ranked team in CIF Southern Section Division IVA.

Bell-Jeff, which won league, CIF and state championships last season, didn’t even implement its usual defensive game plan of contestant full-court pressure.

“We just didn’t want to do that, so we just dropped back and played in our half-court defense,” Camacho said. “There was no need to try and make things worse for [St. Genevieve].”

The Valiants (11-12, 0-6) didn’t do themselves any favors, as they struggled with their shooting and had trouble handling the ball.

St. Genevieve committed 37 turnovers, many of which were turned into Bell-Jeff points. As team, the Guards tallied 21 steals.

The Valiants were just five of 32 (6.4%) shooting from the field. Senior Megan Janolino scored 15 of her team’s 19 points, which included four three-pointers.

Leading the defensive charge was junior Layana White, who had seven steals. Sophomore Rishonda Napier had five steals.

On offense, Bell-Jeff spread things around, as no player scored more than 14 points. Sophomore Averie-Alice Guzman had a career-high 14 points, Napier added 10 and White had eight. Sophomore Kiah Jones had eight rebounds.

Camacho said the game was an opportunity for all of his players to see significant playing time.

“We have a few players banged up right now, so we only have 10,” he said. “But they all got to play a lot and we were able to get some great contributions. We are fortunate that we have our share of talented players.”

Jeff Tully/photo by Roger Wilson