Central Coast Section
THE KING’S ACADEMY OUTLASTS CARMEL IN BOYS D-IV
TKA trailed by five early in the fourth quarter but outscored Carmel 18-10 the rest of the way to pull out the 66-63 win on Saturday in the Central Coast Section Division IV final at Santa Clara High.
Freshman sensation Boss Mhoon led TKA with 22 points.
A 3-pointer by Claxton Ladine brought the Knights within one and a fastbreak layup by Xavier Barnett gave them the lead. Carmel tied it at 56-56. 58-58 and 61-61 before another driving layup by Barnett put TKA ahead for good.
After a Carmel miss, Barnett ran time off the clock dribbling on the perimeter before scoring on another drive with 45 seconds left for a four-point lead.
“He’s been our unquestioned leader, can’t say enough about him,” TKA coach Cameron Bradford said of Barnett. “We needed him to step up and that’s what he did, attacking the basket.”
Barnett scored 16 and Ladine 11 to help the Knights win their second CCS title in the last three years.
“This is a great start and we want to keep it going, put us on the basketball map,” Bradford said.
– Glenn Reeves
LOS GATOS GIRLS REIGN ATOP DIVISION I
For 16 minutes, it looked inevitable. Los Gatos was going to win the CCS Division I girls basketball championship.
The Wildcats started their title matchup against Menlo-Atherton at Mission College with a 15-2 lead after one quarter that stretched to 24-5 at its second-quarter peak.
But the No. 3 seed Bears eventually found their footing and clawed back point by point. Suddenly in the fourth quarter, it was a six-point game.
Yet it was the top-seeded Cats that sealed the contest down the stretch. After M-A brought the deficit down to 36-30 with 2:12 to go, the Bears never scored again.
Nicole Steiner made a layup, Ella Rabitz added another and Steiner sank two free throws to seal the 42-30 win for Los Gatos.
“Made it really interesting in the second half,” Los Gatos coach Sara Quilici Giles said. “It took a little bit of composure, but we came through in the end. So that was nice.”
Menlo-Atherton (19-8) had to soldier on late in the game without guard Molly Gray, who lacerated her eyebrow area during a collision with a Los Gatos player. Gray left the game immediately after being attended to on the floor.
“She’s the biggest, toughest competitor I know,” Menlo-Atherton coach Steve Yob said. “Of all people to take a shot to the head like that, she’s so tough, she wanted to keep playing. She’s got a huge gash on her head, so she’s gonna go get stitches right now. It’s not great, but Molly’s just so damn tough. She wanted to get back in the game, and the trainers told her she couldn’t.”
Yob said he expects Gray to return in time for the NorCal regional playoffs on Tuesday.
Ashley Childers led Los Gatos (19-8) with 15 points, and Rita Zhov added 10 more. Luisa Tava led M-A with eight points.
– Christian Babcock
PROSPECT GIRLS SHARP SHOOTING LEADS WAY IN D-II
Prospect lost twice to Christopher during the regular season. But the third matchup between the teams, with a CCS title on the line at Santa Clara High, was a complete turnaround. Prospect (21-6) jumped out to an 11-0 lead and never looked back. It was 14-3 after one quarter and 29-8 at the half.
Prospect won 50-30.
“All through CCS we played together,” said game high-scorer Sadie Slaughter, who finished with 15 points. “Everybody did their job.”
It was the first CCS basketball championship, boys or girls, in school history.
“Three of my four years we’ve gone to CCS and never won a CCS game,” Slaughter said. “This year we had that mindset for our seniors. We’d never gotten to the semifinals, never got to the finals. For us to get this far is really, really a giant step.”
Prospect was deadly from deep, making nine 3-pointers. Kate Barstow made four from behind the 3-point line and scored 14 points. Madison Kumagai scored nine points on three 3s.
– Glenn Reeves
MENLO SCHOOL GIRLS HOLD OFF HARKER IN D-IV
Menlo School couldn’t get any separation until the third quarter at Mission College. Then suddenly, the Knights had it in spades.
Menlo, the top seed in the Division IV bracket, built a 27-24 lead after a first half where the largest advantage was five points. The Knights extended the lead to 14 by early in the fourth quarter.
That’s when Harker began to chip away. The No. 3 Eagles steadily whittled down the deficit until they trailed 54-51 with 5.2 seconds remaining.
Harker’s Isabella Lo had a shot at the tie, but her buzzer-beating 3-pointer rattled out. Menlo won the D-IV championship for the fourth consecutive season.
“I came here, and they already had two (in a row) and 11 total,” Menlo coach Ryan Cooper said. “To not mess it up is one thing. But more importantly, Karen (Xin) and Ruiqi (Liu) are seniors, and they’ve won four in a row. Maybe in the history books at Mitty or Pinewood, that’s happened.
“But for Menlo, for anybody, that’s pretty special to win four straight section titles in your high school career. Kind of unheard of. And we’re certainly going to miss them, but let the legacy of them continue here from Menlo.”
Lui led the Knights (18-8) with 27 points. Xin added 14, and Sophia Longinidis chipped in four 3-pointers.
Lo paced Harker (22-4) with 19 points, and Jillian Chen was second with 12.
– Christian Babcock
PRIORY BOYS HOLD OFF PALMA FOR D-V CROWN
No. 1 Priory held off No. 2 Palma of Salinas on Saturday morning at Santa Clara High, winning 61-52 to take home the CCS Division V boys basketball championship.
Jai Gerrodetto led Priory (21-6) with 16 points, followed by Teddy Xanthopoulos with 11. Balazs Nyikos was in double figures as well with 10 points.
Priory won the first three quarters by margins of 15-9, 18-13 and 19-18. Palma had a 12-9 advantage in the fourth, but Priory had more than enough points built up to spare.
Tai Suich was the leading scorer for Palma (20-7) with 19 points.
– Christian Babcock
CASTILLEJA BEATS SUMMIT SHASTA FOR GIRLS D-V TITLE
Castilleja capped off an excellent season Saturday morning with a decisive victory over Summit Shasta at Mission College for the CCS girls Division V championship.
The Palo Alto-based Gators, carrying a record of 20-3 into the contest, took down Daly City-based Summit 43-32. Castilleja (21-3), the top seed in the D-V bracket, will next advance to the CIF NorCal regional tournament, and its draw will be revealed on Sunday.
No. 2 Summit (16-6) will also see its season continue and move up to NorCal by virtue of reaching the section championship game.
– Christian Babcock
North Coast Section
ST.MARY’S-BERKELEY GIRLS STORM BACK TO WIN D3 TITLE
Up against a disciplined Dougherty Valley team, St. Mary’s-Berkeley had its back against the wall early.
The Panthers went down 15 at halftime and their chances at winning their seventh NCS title looked bleak.
But then Neiyah Thompson happened.
The senior scored a team-high 21 points, including numerous clutch 3-pointers in the clutch to lead St. Mary’s to a 50-39 win over No. 5 seed Dougherty Valley at Pinole Valley High to capture the NCS Division III championship.
“We just kept going with that momentum,” St. Mary’s coach Tannea Nelson said. “Once our girls saw that we tied the game up, we knew it was our time.”
St. Mary’s entered the NCS playoffs two games over .500 after a gauntlet schedule that ‘saw the Panthers play California, St. Francis and Marin Catholic in non-league play. But it was that difficult schedule that prepared St. Mary’s for a run to the title.
St. Mary’s was given the No. 2 seed in Division III and beat Monte Vista and Fortuna to get to the title game.
“We had to play with high intensity for 32 minutes,” Nelson said when asked what her team learned from playing a tough schedule. “You can have a great skill level, but we had to have that conditioning piece.”
Saturday’s win was the first NCS win for St. Mary’s since the 2020 season. St. Mary’s three-peated from 2009-2011 and won back-to-back NCS championships in 2013 and 2014.
Nelson believes this win is a building block to return to the dominance St. Mary’s once had.
“It’s definitely a great start,” she said. “I think it sunk in for two of my freshmen after the game. I think they were able to see what it takes because you can talk about it all day, but when you’re put in the mix of things, now they’re hungry. … I’m glad that it was a great experience for them and hopefully we can continue to build on this.”
– Nathan Canilao
ST. PATRICK-ST. VINCENT BOYS COMPLETE CINDERELLA RUN
Piedmont Highlanders captain and senior guard Ravi Silverberg had a clean look at the rim for a layup with 1:30 remaining. It would’ve brought Piedmont within a basket of tying the game after trailing by as much as 20 points in Saturday’s North Coast Section Championship Division IV Final at San Leandro High School.
But St. Patrick-St. Vincent Bruins guard Ronald Rhymes, a 6-foot-1 sophomore with invisible rockets strapped to his ankles, met Silverberg in the air. Soaring from seemingly out of nowhere, Rhymes swatted away the layup attempt, and Piedmont’s hopes of capturing an NCS title. The No. 1-seeded Highlanders became the latest upset victim of No. 11 St. Patrick-St. Vincent, 75-70.
“It was huge,” Bruins coach Derek Walker said of Rhymes’ rejection. “Big momentum changer. They were rolling. So for kids, that play is big. Emotionally that can take kids out of the action.”
The Bruins made the title game after upsetting No. 3 El Cerrito and No. 2 Middletown.
Guard Christian Trusclair paced the Bruins with 19 points. Deuce Walker and Isaiah Wilson each added 18 points in their own right. Rhymes, the defensive hero, scored 14 points.
The state championship tournament awaits the Bruins as they hope to continue their fairytale run.
“Been a long season,” Walker said. “Lots of obstacles. But, you know, stick with it and stick to the grind. Don’t cut no corners and things like this happen. So very, very proud of my group.”
– Devin Bradshaw
O’DOWD GIRLS WIN ANOTHER SECTION TITLE
The Bishop O’Dowd Dragons won their first NCS Division I championship since 1995, shutting down the California Grizzlies 45-34 in the title game on Saturday in the nightcap at San Leandro High School.
Myella Chapman scored 13 points for the Dragons and Madison Gordon added 10. Bishop O’Dowd (19-8) has won four NCS titles in the last seven seasons, the previous three coming in Division II. Coach Malik McCord’s Dragons used their size, speed and athleticism to stop the Grizzlies’ attack.
“He had a good defensive plan against us,” California coach Jeff Rodriguez said of McCord. “His pressure and his man-to-man (defense) was effective. Kind of took us out of what we like to do, which is shoot a lot of threes. He did the right thing by taking us off the three-point line, forcing us inside and we didn’t make the right decision sometimes. Credit to him.”
The three-point line can be the ultimate equalizer, something McCord took note of in his preparation for the fifth-seeded Grizzlies (21-11) after seeing them take down the No. 1 Clayton Valley in the semifinals. So the Dragons were quick to every pass, jumped over the top of every screen and, most of the game, would not allow the Grizzlies to fire away from the arc. Bishop O’Dowd’s defense funneled ball handlers into the paint, where the 6-foot-2 Gordon made her presence felt.
“They shot 51 three pointers against Clayton Valley,” McCord said. “We were going to make sure that wasn’t going to happen. Defense is what we start with, man-to-man in your face. We had them at 13 points at halftime.”
After a tightly contested first quarter, Bishop O’Dowd allowed only one made shot and four total points in the second quarter. The Dragons’ suffocating defense allowed them to gain separation and take a 24-13 lead over California into halftime. They would hold that lead the rest of the way.
Bishop O’Dowd, which lost to Bishop Montgomery in the Division I state title game last season, now eagerly awaits its placement in the state tournament bracket. But the formula is clear for McCord and his team.
Defense.
The Dragons have allowed one team to score over 40 points this postseason. And he believes his team is just getting started.
“They’ve gotten better each game,” McCord said. “But we’re still not even close to how good we can be. That’s the scary part. So we’ve got to continue to push them.”
– Devin Bradshaw