Prep roundup: Branham girls stay unbeaten in league play. Las Lomas boys stun Campolindo
Piedmont girls remain unbeaten, Palo Alto holds off Monta Vista. Ygnacio Valley boys upset Benicia.
Girls basketball
Branham 57, Evergreen Valley 51
Branham, playing at home, took advantage of a dominant defensive performance by Quinn Godfrey to improve its record to 19-3 overall and 8-0 in Blossom Valley Athletic League Mt. Hamilton Division play.
Godfrey scored 20 points and had seven blocks on Thursday, a season-high for the 6-foot-4 post who averages 3.4 blocks per game.
Senior forward Alli Von Barloewen hit three 3-pointers and scored 13 points, and Jessalyn Rugnao was the third Branham scorer in double figures with 10 points.
Evergreen Valley junior Ryka Aprameyan, who came in averaging 31.4 points per game, scored a game-high 22. Junior Lealah Rowden added 16 points, and Natasha Joshi scored nine points. Evergreen Valley dropped to 14-7, 5-3.
No. 1 Piedmont 59, Alameda 36
Piedmont drew one game closer to a perfect regular season (22-0, 8-0) with a home win over Alameda (15-7, 3-4) in WACC-Foothill play. The Highlanders, who have missed SDSU commit Trinity Zamora for the last few games, were led in scoring by junior Natalia Martinez’s 27 points.
Close behind her was senior power forward Eva Levingston, who scored 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds while acting as a point guard at times.
“She really is a big guard and sees herself as a big guard,” Piedmont coach Bryan Gardere said. “In her mind, she’s thinking ‘I’m a playmaker, I’m a scorer, I’m a rebounder.’”
After losing the first matchup 73-14 in Alameda, the Yellowjackets kept the game within 12 points until the fourth quarter. Juliana Johnson led Alameda in scoring with nine points, and Gloria Seidl scored eight points and hit two 3-pointers.
Piedmont hosts Bishop O’Dowd and Berkeley next week to close the regular season.
No. 4 Salesian 69, Swett 24
Salesian (21-4, 10-0) won its fourth consecutive game and closed out its TCAL-Rock league play with a road win over Swett (11-11, 2-7). Senior sharpshooter Makiah Asidanya scored 16 points and three 3-pointers, and D’Yani Bernstine had 16 points and 11 rebounds. Sofia Fidelus scored 13 points and hit three 3-pointers for the Pride. Swett’s Venice Garcia scored a team-high eight points.
No. 10 Heritage 61, Deer Valley 26
The Patriots (20-4, 8-0) celebrated senior night by notching their eighth win in Bay Valley Athletic League play, and their sixth league victory by at least 30 points. McDonald’s All-American and UCLA commit Amanda Muse scored a team-high 11 points in her last regular season home game.
Seniors Caitlynn Smith and Kimora McLemore scored 10 and 8 points respectively. Junior Abby Livermore scored seven points, and overall 10 different Patriots got into the scorer’s column against Deer Valley (9-6, 3-5). Heritage plays at Pittsburg and Liberty to end the regular season.
No. 12 Miramonte 79, Alhambra 47
Miramonte’s Karena Eberts led all scorers with 26 points as the Matadors (22-3, 10-1) got an easy road win over Alhambra (11-12, 3-6) in Diablo Athletic League Foothill Division play. Courtney Scheingart made four 3-pointers and scored 19 points. Julia Quinn Ferguson added 13 points and Katherine Scheingart joined her sister in double-figures with 11 points. Kyomi Apalit led Alhambra with 11 points, and Julissa Islas scored nine.
No. 15 Los Gatos 49, Los Altos 39
Nicole Steiner scored 17 points and Claire Galbo contributed 15 points as Los Gatos (18-3, 10-0) rolled to another home win in SCVAL De Anza Division play. After a sluggish first three quarters, Los Gatos outscored its opponent 20-11 in the fourth to win its 13th straight game. Maggie Byrne led Los Altos (11-10, 4-6) in scoring with 16 points, and Natalie Holm scored eight.
No. 16 Palo Alto 49, Monta Vista 35
Palo Alto (15-5, 8-2) secured a home win in SCVAL De Anza Division play against Monta Vista (14-6, 3-6). Vienn Sheng hit six 3-pointers and scored a game-high 18 points for the Vikings. Monta Vista’s Julianna Kimm scored 11 points and Carolyn Ruan put in nine points.
Boys basketball
Las Lomas 59, No. 12 Campolindo 39
Coming off Tuesday’s huge 60-53 win over Clayton Valley Charter, Campolindo (17-7, 8-2) seemed poised to at least tie Clayton Valley Charter for the DAL Foothill Division title. Las Lomas (14-9, 6-3) had other ideas, though, and the Knights went into Moraga and stunned the Cougars by 20 points.
“This is our biggest win of the year, and the kids deserve all the credit,” Las Lomas coach Sly Hunter said. “They did enough to get over the hill.”
Hunter said the team actually started slowly, but the Knights got things going in a second quarter where they outscored Campolindo 16-4. Although he described the Las Lomas offense as stagnant, Hunter said his team compensated by excelling in other aspects of the game.
“We made up for it by rebounding and playing pretty good defense,” Hunter said. “They’re a good team too. I told the kids I thought it would go to the wire.”
With Las Lomas’ frontcourt of 6-foot-4 Jake Davis, 6-6 Jack Halpin and 6-8 Mike Wood all simultaneously healthy for the first time in a while, Hunter believes his team is in great shape as it heads into the playoffs.
“We’ve been struggling to be a complete team in the league, but we’re finally starting to mesh,” Hunter said.
Meanwhile, Campolindo fell back into second place in the league standings behind Clayton Valley (21-3, 9-1).
No. 3 Clayton Valley Charter 60, Acalanes 45
Clayton Valley Charter (21-3, 9-1) rebounded from Tuesday’s upset loss against Campolindo with a road win in DAL Foothill play. Elijah Perryman scored 30 points to lead all scorers. James Moore scored 11 points and freshman guard Julian Plaza scored 10 points. Acalanes (12-9, 4-4) 6-8 center Jake Davis scored 15 points, and junior guard Zubin Acuna scored nine points.
Ygnacio Valley 72, No. 19 Benicia 58
Ygnacio Valley (18-5, 6-2) used a balanced scoring effort at home to pull off the upset over Benicia (19-4, 7-1) in DAL Valley league play. Junior Loyal Morris led the Wolves with 19 points, Jermaine Patton scored 16 points and Antonio Kellogg Jr. chipped in 15 points. Benicia sophomore Darrell Hurd led the team with 19 points, and seniors Jake Matteson and Jacob French each scored 10 points apiece.
Liberty 75, Antioch 54
Liberty (17-5, 8-0) remained unbeaten in BVAL play after a home win where every Lion player scored against Antioch (9-15, 2-6). Liberty, which has clinched at least a share of the league title with two games to go, was led in scoring by Julian Costa’s 18 points.
Heritage 61, Deer Valley 46
Heritage returned to .500 with a road win against Deer Valley (5-19, 0-8) in BVAL play. Brooks Davis scored 17 points for the Patriots, and Jordan Ratchford scored 11 in the first quarter on his way to a 14-point night. Fresno State football commit Devon Rivers scored 10 points for the Patriots.
Serra 76, Bellarmine 61
Marcel Elicagaray’s 17 points and six assists led the visiting Padres (11-9, 4-6) to a West Catholic Athletic League win over Bellarmine (8-12, 3-8). Ryan Pettis also scored 17 points for Serra, and Aidan Carleson had 15 points while Andrew McDowell scored seven points and grabbed six rebounds.