Windsor at 10-12; on bubble for NCS playoff consideration
It’s getting down to crunch time for the Windsor High School girls varsity basketball team, entering the final four games of the North Bay League schedule sitting squarely on the playoff bubble.
The Lady Jaguars (10-12, 4-6) are coming off a busy stretch that included one win in three outings, following up a 43-26 win at Santa Rosa on Jan. 23 with subsequent losses to Rancho Cotate (44-29) and Heritage (74-25).
“It was an up and down week, kind of like our season,” Jags coach Joe Passalacqua said. “We played very well against Santa Rosa and then followed it up with a poor performance at Rancho.”
At press time Windsor was preparing to host Maria Carrillo on Wednesday, Jan. 31 (Senior Night), followed by a Friday, Feb. 2 visit to Montgomery. The Jags will close out the league season with road games at Cardinal Newman (Feb. 6) and Ukiah (Feb. 8).
Busy week on hard court
Windsor turned in one of its best defensive efforts of the season in the Jan. 23 visit to Santa Rosa, holding the Panthers to single digits each quarter. The Jaguars took a 20-15 halftime lead and never trailed after intermission in cruising to a 43-26 win.
Top point-getters for the Jags included Gabby Giddings (22 points, 6 rebounds), Cecillia Smith (9 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist), Mattie Murphy (5 points, 5 rebounds), Tori Russotti (3 points, 5 rebounds), Hannah May (2 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists) and Sabrina Simili (2 points, 3 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals).
The Lady Jags struggled on offense two nights later at Rancho Cotate, spotting the Cougars a 14-13 advantage at the half. Windsor 27-24 after three but were swamped 17-5 in the final period en route to a 44-29 Rancho win.
Making matters worse was a serious knee injury suffered by four-year starter Sabrina Simile, possibly ending her season. Smith led the offense with 14 points and seven rebounds, while other top scorers were Pauline Woodard (5 points, 5 rebounds) and Giddings (5 points, 5 boards, 2 blocks).
The Jags played host to a strong Heritage squad in Saturday’s non-league tilt, as the visitors raced to a 46-13 halftime cushion. Windsor fought an uphill battle the rest of the way in an eventual 74-25 loss.
“Heritage is at a different level than us,” Passalacqua noted. “We couldn’t handle their pressure and turnovers led to easy baskets.”
Russotti took top scoring honors for the Jags with eight points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals. Also in the scoring column were Smith (6 points, 6 rebounds) and Giddings (5 points, 2 rebounds).
