GIRLS BASKETBALL: Los Gatos Can’t Slow Down First Place Paly

Palo Alto 58, Los Gatos 37

The Stars: The Palo Alto seniors. The senior class of Sydney Davis, Mary Albertolle, Mariah Phillips and Katerina Peterson all were honored before the game on senior night at Paly.

Springboarded after the emotional pre-game festivities, the senior foursome came out with a plenty of energy to burn in the early going.

The seniors combined to score 12 of Paly’s 16 points in the first quarter, led by smooth shooting guard Mariah Phillips. Phillips buried two 3-pointers in the quarter and finished the game with nine points.

Peterson and Albertolle each scored four points in the win. Davis added eight points and provided plenty of defensive grit on the other end of the floor. Los Gatos was led in scoring by star senior post player Dana Webster, fellow team captain Courtney Mains and freshman Katie Lamson. Each player had seven points.

The Turning Point: Los Gatos (16-7, 7-4 De Anza) withstood the initial punch from the potent Palo Alto(18-4, 11-0 De Anza) attack and inched back to within four points late in the second quarter.

 ‘Cats senior guard Taylor Comeau flew coast-to-coast for a pretty layup to start the turnaround. Senior guard Jodie Lee connected on the first of her two 3-pointers on the night and Dana Webster finished strong on the baseline and drew a foul. After the made free throw the score was 23-19 with a little over two minutes left on the clock.  

Los Gatos got back into the game, but it was the second surge that sunk the visitors hopes of closing the gap even more.

The Vikings closed the final two minutes of the half on a 9-0 run. Lindsay Black knocked down a key triple, then junior Emilee Osagiede ripped off a steal at midcourt and quickly added two more points to the home teams cause. The Vikings took a 32-19 lead into the half and never looked back en route to their 11th straight league victory. Black led the team with 13 points.

 The Quote: "Palo Alto has some athletes—Los Gatos head coach Xavier Cook said. “Give them credit. Our energy level needed to match theirs. We didn’t do that tonight, especially early in the game.”

Los Gatos will get another strong test on Friday night against Gunn.

“We can play with anyone,” Cook said. “We had a rough quarter the last time we played Gunn. Execution and continuing to play good basketball is key for us going into the playoffs.”

What's Next? Los Gatos will host Gunn Friday night at 6:15. Seniors Maddie Guenther, Taylor Comeau, Jodie Lee and Dana Webster will be honored before the start of the game.

Bottom Line: It was another suffocating defensive showing for the Vikings on Wednesday night. Squaring off against another playoff bound team in Los Gatos, Palo Alto harassed ball handlers, swarmed the passing lanes and made the most of its opportunities throughout the night. The athletic group will go as far as its defense will take it once the playoffs kick off next week. Los Gatos was without one key player on Wednesday night and had two more players play limited minutes due to illness. The ‘Cats expect to have their full arsenal ready to go come playoff time.

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Los Gatos Scoring

 Mains-7

Comeau-5

Lamson-7

Webster-7

Lee-6

Fukushima-2

Nguyen-1

Schmieding-2