Menlo pulled out a thriller over Santa Teresa despite a furious Saints comeback in the fourth quarter. Menlo (4-0) led 50-36 entering the fourth, but Santa Teresa dropped 21 points while holding the Knights under double digits.
Still, Menlo’s previous lead was enough to hold off Santa Teresa down the stretch to tip off the Los Gatos Lions Club Tournament. Junior Ethan Zhao led Menlo with a 21-point effort, 10 points of which came in the third quarter. Sophomore Kai Mawakana added 12 points in a supplementary role.
Alex Peoples scored 10 points for Santa Teresa, which dropped to 2-3 with the loss.
Menlo-Atherton earned a nice nonleague win over TKA in a matchup at home in Atherton. The Bears (2-1) were led by Trevor Cadigan, who scored 27 points largely thanks to converting seven 3-pointers. Jerry Williams was the second-leading scorer for M-A with 11 points.
Xavier Barnett paced TKA with 14 points, and Boss Mhoon added 11. The loss was the first of the year for the Knights, who fell to 4-1.
SHP (2-2) picked up a comfortable victory over Palo Alto at the Burlingame Lions Tournament held at Hillsdale High School. The Gators’ dominance in the middle two quarters made the difference. They held the Vikings (2-1) to seven points in each of the second and third frames while scoring a combined 37 themselves.
Senior Alex Straser lead the Gators with 17 points. Seniors Damon Coakley and Matthew Norris shared the secondary scoring burden with 11 points each for SHP.
Senior Jorell Clark led Palo Alto with 13 points.
Menlo (7-0) picked up a nonleague early-season victory with an eight-point triumph at Branham. Karen Xin was the leading scorer for the Knights, pouring in 23 points with five made 3-pointers. Fellow senior Ruiqi Liu added 18 points, and sophomore Sophia Longinidis contributed nine. Gina Shim led Branham (3-3) with 19 points.
San Leandro picked up a big win over KIPP King, improving to 3-0 this season. Ravyn Martin led the Pirates with 14 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots. Ava Musgrave chipped in eight points, as did Favour Onyerika. KIPP King dropped to 3-3 this year.
Santa Clara prevailed in a low-scoring battle on Wednesday at home. The Bruins improved to 2-0 behind 13 points and nine rebounds from freshman Rhia Swaminath. Sophomore Victoria Calvillo added nine points and eight steals. Hill fell to 2-3 with the loss.
Campolindo earned a road win over Berkeley on Wednesday thanks to goals from Maya Abughosh, Carina Trento and Sara Brockmeier. The Cougars are now 6-0 this season, while Berkeley drops to 1-2 overall.
Northgate (2-0) continued its strong start to the early season with a dominant victory over Newark Memorial (0-1) on Tuesday. Freshman Makena Oberbruner scored three goals and added an assist in the win. Coupled with her performance in Northgate’s 12-0 win over Deer Valley on Dec. 5, she has scored four goals and dished a pair of assists already this season.
Senior Anjali Huber scored Northgate’s other two goals in the win over Newark Memorial.
The Los Altos girls tennis team finished off a stellar season with a runner-up finish at the CIF state championship match on Monday in Fresno. The Eagles, who won their first-ever CCS title on Nov. 16, defeated Menlo School 4-3 at the NorCal regional championship on Dec. 4 to reach the state title match.
Los Altos lost 5-2 to Palos Verdes in the championship matchup. Bella Mariona won her match 0-6, 6-1, 6-2 at No. 1 singles, and Pallavi Mallampati won 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 at No. 4 singles.
The Eagles had won 15 matches in a row heading into the CIF state title tilt and suffered their first defeat since Sept. 28. They finished their season with the program’s first-ever CCS and NorCal titles, plus the first state championship appearance in school history. Their final record stands at 24-7.
