WATSONVILLE, CA — The Scotts Valley High girls basketball team heard the rumblings heading into its Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League game against host St. Francis Central Coast Catholic.
The Falcons, the defending two-time SCCAL champions, have been hearing that if there was going to be a team to threaten them in a quest for a third straight SCCAL title, it would be the Sharks.
For at least another day Scotts Valley was able to silence any doubters by defeating St. Francis 63-41 victory Saturday night.
Senior point guard Nikiya Bechtle scored a game-high 16 points and added five rebounds, four assists and three steals for the Falcons, who led by as many as 28 points in the fourth quarter.
“We’re always ready to play and I think we played well because of the hype of it,” Bechtle said. “Our preseason schedules were completely different. We played some really hard competition.”
Scotts Valley (9-3, 2-0 SCCAL) has fallen to St. Francis-Mountain View, Monte Vista Christian and Presentation - teams that have a combined record of 34-4 and are all threats to compete in the Central Coast Section Open Division playoffs.
Scotts Valley has won 29 straight SCCAL games dating back to 2013.
St. Francis CCC (9-1, 0-1), the defending three-time CCS Division V champions that won two non-league tournaments, hadn’t quite faced a team the caliber of Scotts Valley.
The Falcons led 19-8 after the first quarter.
It wasn’t just Bechtle, as senior post Grace Giguiere scored 15 points, had nine rebounds and five steals while Sam Boyle added 11 points and five rebounds.
“We prepared well and worked pretty hard,” Boyle said. “We forced some turnovers early and got some steals. Once we got into our offensive sets, things came together.”
Said coach Rick Silver: “I thought our defense was the difference. Players change but the scheme stays the same and these girls have played a really tough preseason and it has made them better and better.”
Scotts Valley went into halftime leading 32-19.
The Falcons came out in the second half and had their best quarter of the game, outscoring the Sharks 21-8 to go into the fourth leading 53-27.
“Even tonight there was things that we are going to have to work on and improve on,” Silver said. “Everyone on the team has a role and it starts with our defense.
“Our focus is on us, we want to get better every night. Our goal is to win the SCCAL and our other goal is to win a (CCS) Division IV title if we stay in our division.”
Scotts Valley hasn’t been able to capture that elusive CCS crown despite being the standard bearer of D-IV teams the past two years after playing in the Open Division.
Devon O’Brien scored seven points and Shasta Smith added six points for Scotts Valley, which will host Soquel (7-5, 1-0) on Monday at 5:30 p.m.
Shelby Robinett and Riley Croghan led the Sharks, each scoring eight points. Robinett added a team-high eight rebounds while Janessa Yniguez and Janiya Sevilla each scored six in the loss.
St. Francis will host San Lorenzo Valley (4-6, 0-2) on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.
