Casa Grande girls explode by Petaluma

Casa Grande sprinted past Petaluma, 53-24, and into third place in Sonoma County League girls basketball standings Saturday night in the Petaluma gym.

The rematch of an earlier game won by Petaluma was all Lady Gauchos, who exploded to a commanding 12-2 advantage at the end of the first period. Petaluma could never cut the lead to less than seven points the rest of the way. At one point, Casa Grande held a 22-4 advantage.

Led by hot-shooting Gretchen Harrigan, Casa put the game away in the third period, when it outscored the hosts 14-2. Harrigan, saddled with two fouls, sat out much of the second stanza, when Petaluma chopped the lead to 22-15 with an 11-point run before halftime.

After re-taping an aggravated ankle, the determined sophomore took over the game on the inside by slashing down the middle for 10 points in the third quarter, and Casa put the game completely out of reach.

“We didn’t want a repeat of the first game when they beat us by two points in a very physical game,” said Gaucho coach Dan Sack. “Our girls tried to keep the game up-tempo, and they did a good job tonight. We were also concerned with their 3-point shooting, which hurt us last time around.”

Petaluma had no answer offensively, as it was limited to only two points in the first and third periods. The T-Girls had a difficult night shooting the ball, except for a pair of 3-point shots by Holly Bacon in the second quarter and the continued hard work underneath by senior Jordy Baddeley. Baddeley finished with 11 points to pace Petaluma. It was the second consecutive double-figure effort by the T-Girl pivot player.

Harrigan scored 19 of her game high 23 points in the second half. She took high feed passes at the top of the key, and pounded down the middle with a soft touch off the glass, as the Gauchos pulled away, and took the Petaluma crowd out of the contest.

Another dimension to the Casa offense was the play of rejuvenated senior wing player Kathleen Heaslet. Heaslet, almost a forgotten cog in the Gaucho offense at mid-season, has come on strong in recent games to make significant contributions. In this game, she meshed three shots outside the arc to help Casa Grande maintain the advantage in the first half. She finished with 13 points in a solid outing.

“I tend to get a little discouraged in the early part of the game, when my shot is not dropping, and lose my confidence quickly,” she said. “Recently, I just reminded myself that this was my senior season, and to just have fun with it.”

Harrigan got good rebounding support from Julia Cratty, as they battled with Baddeley for control of the boards. Cratty also tossed in seen points for the Gauchos, who ran off their third consecutive victory to improve to 8-3 in the SCL and 17-8 overall. Point guard Stephanie Sack had 11 assists for Casa.

Doug Johnson's T-Girls battled with another physical effort on the floor, but most of their shots were off target. Junior Lindsay Stoll, who led Petaluma in scoring in a two-point loss to Windsor the night before, was limited to a single free throw.

Petaluma slides to 7-3 in league play and 14-10 for the season.