Lack of offense causes Vista loss to Bruins, 44-35

Vista del Lago's varsity girls' basketball team seems to have hit the late January doldrums that impact teams who are struggling. The Eagles are in the midst of a seven-game losing streak and they were banking on a win Friday against Ponderosa, a team they beat by 11 points in mid-December. However, the Eagles struggled to score, a trend that's plagued them all season, and lost to the Bruins, 44-35. Vista coach Marty Benjamin knows offense has been a problem all season and it was last night. "You have to score more than 35 points if you think you're going to win a game," Benjamin said. "We scored six points in the first quarter and six points in the fourth quarter and that almost gives you no chance to get a win. "It's been consistently a struggle to score all year, and our offense hasn't improved to the place where I was hoping it would get to." The good thing for the Eagles is in most games, they play good defense, routinely holding teams to under 50 points and in some games under 40, but can't generate the offense to match it. "Our defense has kept us in games, but we haven't been able to put together four quarters of good offense to go with it, and that's cost us to lose a lot of close games," Benjamin said. "I'm pleased with our effort. The girls play hard, but we let defensive pressure bother us to where we don't run our offense correctly. That's been part of the problem, along with the fact that we're just not a good shooting team from the perimeter." The Eagles could never get over the hump against the Bruins. They were down by seven points on multiple occasions and got as close as one point to the lead before the Bruins would score the next three baskets and lead by seven points again. Kelsey Brooks did everything she could to help her team, as she scored 15 points. Natalie Ward finished with seven and Adalai Lawson scored six. With scoring only 35 points, Vista del Lago had to be darn near perfect on the defensive end and they were not, as the Bruins had several good looks and made six three-point shots. Benjamin said the team needs a win badly. "We've got a few teams coming up on the schedule that I think we can beat," Benjamin said. "I'm confident we will play good defense, but it will come down to whether we can play four quarters of good offense." Vista's next games are at home Wednesday against Bella Vista and Friday at home against Rio Americano.