Basketball
rebound, and put it back up.”
Winterhalder made five 3s and scored 21 points, Stotland made four 3s and scored 15 points, and Thayer did the most of the dirty work in the paint and added 11 points.
It was the teams' third meeting after earning a split in the regular season. Now, the Knights get another shot at the unbeaten regular-season champion. Soquel (12-11) faces No. 1 Santa Cruz (19-5), a 52-37 winner over No. 5 Aptos (818) in the other semifinal, in Saturday's 5 p.m. championship at Scotts Valley High.
“We've got a full team of seniors, so they want to end their year strong,” Knights coach Cristina Locatelli said.
Santa Cruz posted a 6545 over the host Knights in their most recent meeting Jan. 31. It was the dominant Cardinals' smallest margin of victory in SCCAL play this season.
Soquel jumped out to a 15-4 lead before SLV scored the final five points of the first quarter. The Knights kept the Cougars at arms length for much of the first half, but the Cougars made enough free throws, 11, to enter the break still within striking distance. SLV trailed 32-24 at halftime, after Winterhalder banked in a 3 with two seconds remaining.
Bella Reynolds scored six points during an 8-0 run to open the second half and SLV knotted the score at 32-all, but Stotland gave the Knights the lead for good with her 3 midway through the third quarter.
SLV trailed 42-40 after Reynolds made a pair of free throws in the fourth, but Winterhalder swished in 3s on back-to-back trips down the court to put her team up by six, 48-42.
Mauer made its final field goal with 3:31 left, and closed with three free throws to hold off the Cougars.
“After our loss to SLV the second time we played them, that fueled us to want to really work hard tonight,” Winterhalder said.
Hannah Morley scored 18
points for SLV (16-7), which enjoyed its most successful regular season in more than two decades. Reynolds scored 15 points, seven were free throws, and Lucy Lilienthal-Wynn scored nine of her 13 points at the freethrow line.
SLV's Amelia Sizemore was limited to one field goal, a 3-pointer in the first quarter.
Santa Cruz 52, Aptos 37
SCOTTS VALLEY >> Natalia Espinosa scored 10 of her 15 points in the fourth quarter, and the No. 1 Cardinals survived the No. 5 Mariners in the SCCAL Tournament semifinals at Scotts Valley High.
Aptos led 23-21 at the half, and the teams were knotted at 32-all with 6:30 remaining.
“Aptos gave us all we could handle tonight,” Cardinals coach Todd Trowbridge said. “They were prepared for us and played with some serious energy. We finally settled in at around four minutes left in the game and took control. This was a good wake up call for us.”
Santa Cruz's Claire Thompson scored a teamhigh 16 points to go along with 11 rebounds, five assists, four steals and three blocks. It was her third double-double of the season.
Madison Yazalina had 14
points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists for the Cardinals.
Guin Lines scored 14 points to lead the Mariners, Laurel Southall scored 11 points, and Abby Sherwood scored eight points.
BOYS Aptos 49, Soquel 39
SCOTTS VALLEY >> Isaiah Ackerman scored 11 of his 18 points in the second half, and the No. 2 Mariners held an opponent under 50 points for the 10th straight game to advance from the SCCAL Tournament semifinals at Scotts Valley High.
Aptos (18-7) will face Santa Cruz in the final at Scotts Valley on Saturday at 7 p.m. They teams split their regular-season series and shared the SCCAL regular-season title for a second straight season.
Soquel led 25-22 on Payton Jones' 3-pointer early in the third quarter, but the Mariners went on a 16-6 run — highlighted by Ackerman's 12th dunk of the season — to close the quarter with a 38-31 lead.
“We knew it was going to be hard,” said Ackerman, who also had a team-high nine rebounds. “They're a good team. We've had some close battles, but we just kept our head down and kept pushing.”
Harrison Bloom scored 11 points for Aptos. Lawrence Ingram IV scored six of his
eight points in the third quarter, and Tosh Woods chipped in with six points.
Braylon Noble led the No. 4 Knights (10-15) with 12 points, and Cade Peterson and Nolen Westfall each scored eight points.
“Every time we played them it was sort of the same outcome,” Noble said. “We're winning the game, we're in the game. Hopefully next year one of our main focuses will be learn to finish games . ... We started giving up stuff inside, those easy buckets, put-backs, stuff like that will really kill you as a team.”
Santa Cruz 80, SLV 27
SCOTTS VALLEY >> Demeke Smith scored a game-high 19 points and the No. 1 Cardinals rolled past the No. 6 Cougars in the SCCAL Tournament semifinals at Scotts Valley High.
The Cardinals (21-4) forced numerous turnovers with their relentless press, dominated on the glass, and had success on offense to help set up a running clock in the fourth quarter.
Kirby Seals, Aden Cury, and DeMarco Hunter each scored 14 points for Santa Cruz.
Aiden Nounnan scored nine points to lead SLV (5-17), and Skylar Thayer had six points and four rebounds.