‘It’s our game’: San Ramon Valley’s runaway train fast-break offense powers Wolves to 4th straight EBAL title
DANVILLE — When San Ramon Valley’s offense starts to stampede, the opposing team can do two things.
Get out of the way, or call timeout.
There’s no stopping the Wolves once they start generating steals, getting out and running, draining 3-pointers in transition and channeling the euphoria of the peak Golden State Warriors.
After a slow start on Friday night against Carondelet, the Wolves got their offense in top gear during a second-quarter surge that saw them rip off a 14-0 run and force a Cougars timeout.
The run was stopped – temporarily at least – but the damage was done. SRV cruised the rest of the way, never letting Carondelet get within fewer than eight points while finishing out a 70-49 win that clinched the Wolves’ fourth consecutive East Bay Athletic League championship.
After Friday’s performance, SRV will undoubtedly be the top seed in next week’s North Coast Section Open Division playoffs and the heavy favorite to take home the championship.
“We get so excited, and we just know that it’s our game,” said guard Alyssa Rudd, who played with personal three fouls for most of the second quarter to help key the decisive run. “We carry it out from there, that fire. We’re so happy. And I think that’s the best part about it, is how happy you get.”
Like the Warriors made famous, the Wolves (24-3, 9-0) weaponized joy to its full effect, demoralizing Carondelet (23-5, 8-1) with a corner 3-pointer from Hania Bowes that ignited the home capacity crowd and broke the Cougars’ will as the lead ballooned past double digits.
“It’s tough, because they get to their spots,” Carondelet coach Kelly Sopak said. “They get five out on the perimeter. So if you take away the three, you’re isolated in the middle of the floor. So they really cause problems.”
It would be hard to overstate the jolt of energy that permeated the SRV gym when the Wolves went on a run.
Wolves are pack hunters by nature, and the strength of this SRV team is in its collective. Seven players scored points, three reached double figures and the ball hopped around from player to player like a pinball.
Backed by the youthful exuberance of a packed student section and a raucous home environment, the Wolves became simply unstoppable.
“We’ve been battling cold and flu all week,” SRV coach John Cristiano said. “So these girls have missed practices, some of them, this week. It took them a little while to get going, but once we got going, I knew we had it.”
It was SRV’s ninth consecutive win over Carondelet, furthering the Wolves’ establishment as the top team in the East Bay. By the end of the night, the Cougars were out of answers.
“Digging ourselves the hole, we had to exert too much energy in that third quarter,” Sopak said. “We played a great third quarter to make it a decent game, but we just ran out of gas. And they hammered us in the fourth quarter.”
Carondelet’s last gasp came late in the third when the Cougars cut the lead down to eight, gradually whittling the deficit down from 15 at the half.
But the Wolves went on the run again early in the fourth quarter, stretching their advantage back out on another corner 3 from Bowes, then a driving layup from Ella Gunderson, then a transition and-one layup by Rudd, then a steal and fast-break layup by Gunderson that pushed the lead to 16.
As the Wolves continued to stretch the deficit with a dizzying array of fast-break buckets down the stretch, Cristiano, with the game in hand, implored his players for the second time to “SLOW DOWN!”
Not happening. They only know one speed.
“We really work on transition,” Rudd said. “We stress that so much. We know we’re one of the fastest teams. Because we’re not the biggest, so we’re not gonna be able to bully inside like these other teams. Carondelet has some big players, but we can get down the court faster, outrun them. That is a huge, huge advantage for us, especially later in the game when teams are getting tired.”
Bowes led all scores with 23 points, and Gunderson scored 20. Rudd, a senior, scored 12 and notched a double-double by leading SRV with 10 rebounds.
Niylah Christopher scored 17 points to lead Carondelet, and Olivia Smith chipped in 11.
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