Benicia High’s girls varsity basketball team played its worst game of the season in a 59-28 loss at Rodriguez last Saturday.
The Lady Panthers (8-2) were without sophomore guard Kameron Hatcher, who sat out due to a toe injury. Hatcher is one of the team’s best ball-handlers and the team’s best defender, and without her, the Lady Panthers weren’t the same team that came in riding a four-game winning streak.
“She’s my third ball-handler and not having her was huge,” said Benicia head coach Randy Saitz. “We don’t have much room for error and we can’t afford to be missing a player like Kameron. (Rodriguez) pressed us and we just had too many turnovers. We didn’t make plays and that was our downfall.”
Benicia scored only two points in the first quarter and dug itself a 16-2 hole. The Lady Panthers pulled to within 10 at the break, but Rodriguez (6-10) opened the second half with a 15-4 run to take command.
“Rodriguez was good but they never should have beaten us by that kind of score,” Saitz said. “I think if we’d had Kameron available, things would have been a lot different.”
Calei Mendoza had 11 points and three steals for the Lady Panthers. Michelle Li added 10 points and five rebounds, and Elizabeth Sweeney grabbed nine rebounds.
Hatcher is expected to play Tuesday night when the Lady Panthers host Armijo.
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