SANTA CLARA, CA - The senior duo of Greer Hoyem and Carly McLanahan were nearly unstoppable on Saturday at Santa Clara High, combining for 39 points and making one instrumental play after another in top-seeded Menlo-Atherton’s 51-42 victory over No. 8 Evergreen Valley, in the Central Coast Section Division I quarterfinals.
Hoyem had 20 points, six rebounds, and three blocks, while McLanahan tallied 19 points – 15 off three-pointers – along with nine rebounds and three assists. Catharine Chai had five assists.
The Bears (20-8) made their biggest gains in the first and third quarters, but Evergreen Valley never went away, trailing by three at the half and trimming the lead to six, 47-41, with 1:08 remaining. Thirty seconds after that, Hoyem found a cutting Erica Fischer for a layup to essentially seal the game.
“As that first half went on, defensively we let up a little bit,” Markisha Coleman stated. “Second half, we refocused and played hard. You win or go home for whatever seed you are, and you can definitely see that Evergreen wanted to beat us.”
For Evergreen Valley (19-7), Anisah Douglas led the way with 16 points, eight boards, and three blocks, while Kaitlyn Malicad added 11 points.
“We’re proud of our effort. We never felt we were out of it.”
Augmon sisters shine and sparks fly in Silver Creek win over North Salinas
Junior Leilani Augmon and her freshman sister Aniyah dominated the floor, and No. 6 Silver Creek withstood a late charge by No. 3 North Salinas in a thrilling 53-46 victory.
Leilani had 19 points, 18 rebounds, four blocks, three assists, and two steals for the Raiders (15-11). She had a double-double by halftime and had to sit out much of the third quarter due to foul trouble. Aniyah tallied 18 points, 14 rebounds, and two steals.
“The sisters take our team to another level but collectively our girls all contribute,” Silver Creek coach Sonny Flores commented. “Give a lot of credit to Darren and his team. They’re a perennial playoff contender and they showed it again today.”
Nathalis Morales, a freshman guard, buried four three-pointers and scored 14 points, all in the second half, to lead North Salinas (17-8). Arianna Gonzalez tallied 10 points, eight rebounds, and three blocks, Destiney Urzua chipped in 12 points, and Nevaeh Black corralled 10 boards.
Silver Creek led 30-15 at the half, and a seven-point burst in under 10 seconds, formed by three free throws by Laeloni Punsalan followed by a steal-layup combination off an inbounds pass by both Augmon sisters, pushed the advantage to 46-26 early in the fourth. Morales sparked a comeback to end the game, but there was simply too much ground to make up.
Carlmont sinks Palo Alto
Catherine Dahlberg scored 14 points and raked in 17 rebounds, and No. 5 Carlmont took a third quarter lead that they never relinquished in a 47-41 defeat of No. 4 Palo Alto.
Much of Dahlberg’s damage came in the second half, when Carlmont sprinted out to a 10-0 run to change the advantage from five to 15, and teammate Victoria Mataele had six of her 10 points in the fourth to help keep the Vikings at bay.
“In the third quarter they got the loose balls and the rebounds and that hurt us,” Palo Alto coach Scott Peters said. “For most of the game our energy and effort was the best we could play on defense.”
“(Palo Alto) really gave us all they could handle,” Carlmont coach Dan Mori remarked. “When they started giving us pressure we made some clock management mistakes, but once we called a couple timeouts I think they realized the clock was our friend.”
Carly Leong, playing her final game for Palo Alto, was outstanding with 14 of her 20 points in the second half, and added seven rebounds, four steals, and two blocks. Freshman point guard Annika Shah also impressed with 16 points and three assists – though she could have easily had double that amount of dimes if not for missed layups. The back court duo hit their marks as they entered the game scoring a combined 36 points per game.
“It was a battle the whole way and I’m just incredibly proud of my team,” Leong said. “If we knocked down a couple more shots we would have been right in the game.”
“We knew we had to come out strong and aggressive and definitely guard their three-point shooters,” Dahlberg said.
Carlmont (20-7) came out of the gate slowly, though Palo Alto (17-7) was not much better, as the score was only 10-5 Palo Alto after one. The Scots defeated the Vikings 48-33 when they squared off in December.
Sequoia clamps down on Santa Clara, wins easily
No. 2 Sequoia didn’t have a single player in double figures, but early defense and a balanced attack were the recipe in a 49-24 rout of unseeded Santa Clara.
“Our feeling is that offense is an imperfect science,” Sequoia coach Nick McCullar said. “It’s a matter of identifying kids and playing hard. Defense is where we like to start and finish.”
Freshman trio Alexis Jackson, Jacqueline Kurland, and Caitlin Dulsky combined for 26 points, and Talita Falepapalangi and Jada Herbert pulled a combined 16 rebounds for Sequoia (20-7). Kayleigh Watanabe had nearly all of the Bruins’ total, with 18 points.
Santa Clara (13-14), which defeated Los Altos and No. 7 San Benito to get to this game, struggled from the start, trailing 9-2 after one and 18-5 at the half. In the fourth, both teams had their strongest quarter offensively.
“From Day One…you had the combination of some strong younger kids and some older kids who were so mature they saw the value of being a good teammate above everything,” McCullar added.
Semifinals on Wednesday
No. 6 Silver Creek will play No. 2 Sequoia, and No. 5 Carlmont faces No. 1 Menlo-Atherton, in Wednesday’s semifinals at Evergreen Valley High School. Times TBA.
