Menlo-Atherton women take command early to beat Evergreen Valley in CCS D-I semifinal

SAN JOSE — This one was determined early.

Menlo-Atherton scored the primary 12 factors of the sport and was by no means significantly threatened Thursday in a 56-37 victory over host Evergreen Valley in a Central Coast Part Division I women basketball semifinal.

M-A, the No. 3 seed, strikes on to play high seed Los Gatos on Saturday for the CCS D-I championship at Mission Faculty at 3 p.m.

“That was our goal from the start of the season,” mentioned level guard Eve Amram, who scored 13 factors towards Evergreen Valley. “Now we’re one game away.”

Thursday’s semifinal was a recreation of runs with M-A’s runs longer and extra frequent.

After that preliminary 12-0 run to start the sport, Evergreen scored the subsequent eight factors solely to see M-A reel off 10 in a row to make it 22-8.

Trailing 27-14 at halftime, the Cougars got here out and scored the primary six factors of the third quarter to make it 27-20. However that was as shut as they’d get. The Bears proceeded to place the sport away, outscoring the house workforce 17-3 to go up 44-23.

M-A’s 1-3-1 zone protection was a decisive issue, stopping attractiveness on the basket and making penetration tough.

“We wanted them taking outside shots,” M-A coach Steve Yob mentioned. “They’re a really quick team, really fast, they can get to the basket. We wanted to keep them out of the paint, make them shoot from outside and our girls did a really great job on defense.”

The 1-3-1 has develop into M-A’s base protection.

“It is now,” Yob mentioned. “We started off the year in man, pressing, and it just didn’t fit our team. This is the first year we’ve gone to the 1-3-1 and it’s been a game changer. Our roster is really long and tall and the 1-3-1 has been big for us.”

Amram and Avary Sheldon scored 13 apiece to share workforce high-point honors. Luisa Tava got here off the bench to attain 11, all within the second quarter.

Aastha Bhagat scored a game-high 16 for No. 2 seed Evergreen Valley (19-7), however solely three different gamers scored.

“We struggled with their length, struggled making bad decisions,” Evergreen coach Drew Fenstermaker mentioned. “Didn’t take care of the ball. Defense was one step slow on rotations.”

The 2 divisional finalists mechanically advance to the Northern California playoffs. Fenstermaker mentioned he nonetheless thought his workforce would additionally advance as an at-large choice.

“Live to see another day,” he mentioned. “Season’s still alive. I hope we don’t get snubbed.”

M-A’s final look in a CCS championship recreation was in 2020, Yob’s first season as head coach, when the Bears beat Palo Alto within the Division I last, 34-32.

“We know Los Gatos is a very good team, they could be an Open team,” Yob mentioned. “We’ve got a very big challenge coming up and we’re excited to take it on. We’ll enjoy this tonight, study some Los Gatos film and be ready to go.”

Initially Revealed: February 27, 2025 at 11:05 PM PST