MCAL playoff race down to wire

San Marin burst out of the gate, while Archie Williams stumbled at the start in the Mustangs' 69-41 victory Thursday night. San Marin held Archie Williams to just three points in the first quarter and led 45-14 at halftime.

The result secures San Marin's position in third place in the MCAL standings, while Archie Williams is left teetering on the edge of playoff elimination. The Falcons (11-13, 6-9 MCAL) are tied with Terra Linda (15-10, 6-9) and Marin Catholic (10-15, 6-9) for fourth place, and need a win over the Wildcats in Saturday's regular-season finale.

• Terra Linda, which defeated Marin Catholic 89-79 on Thursday, is scheduled to face Novato (4-20, 4-11 MCAL) on Saturday, with the Trojans hoping to keep their own playoff hopes alive. The Trojans' Dylan Martin posted a big 29 points against Marin Catholic, while Max Funk came up with 21 points. Grady Bowers aded 17 points.

JR Bosch posted a teamhigh 19 points for the Wildcats, who also got big efforts from Caden Maas (17 points), Dante Stallone (16) and Charles Williams (14).

• Jake Vasquez and the Giants look like they are rounding into postseason form as Redwood High defeated Novato 62-47 Thursday night. Vasquez netted 20 points, including four 3-pointers, and 10 rebounds. Ains Fish and Johan Swildens each had 10 points. The Giants (20-5, 14-1 MCAL) wrap up the regular season Saturday against league leader Branson.

Novato was paced by Travis Flick with 11 points, followed by Andy Gates with 10 points and Joshua DeVore and Connor Mulvaney with seven points each.

• Branson (22-2, 15-0 MCAL) used a second-half run to lock up a 65-35 win over San Rafael, as the Bulls celebrated Senior Night on Thursday. Jase Butler led Branson with 20 points to go with six rebounds, eight assists and five steals. Senior George Gale pulled in 17 points, 12 rebounds and three assists, while Semetri Carr added 15 points.

San Rafael senior Brendan Davidson scored seven points in his high school career finale. Parks Thommes also scored seven points for the Bulldogs.

Girls basketball

Gracyn Lovette poured in 20 points as Marin Catholic defeated Terra Linda 70-29 Thursday night to remain undefeated in league play heading into Saturday's regular season finale against Archie Williams. Cecily Hadd added 18 points, while Izzy McFadden and Alyssa Spagnulo scored eight points each for the Wildcats (205, 15-0 MCAL).

• Redwood, which defeated Novato 56-21 on Thursday, hopes to bolster its claim to a berth in the MCAL playoffs with a win over third-place Branson in Saturday's regular-season finale. The Giants (169, 9-6 MCAL) are currently in fourth place, with a slim lead over Archie Williams (15-11, 8-7 MCAL).

Women's basketball

Dominican University of California (14-9, 12-4) earned a key win with the PacWest tournament less than a month away as the Penguins left La Mirada on Thursday with a 65-65 victory over Biola University (10-11, 9-5).

Penguins freshman Keyonee Neal notched her fourth 20-point game in a row, earning exactly 20 points on 60 percent shooting while adding seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block. Redshirt senior Brittney Cedeno added 18 points and five assists, while sophomore Alaiyah San Juan and Abreanna Lake each scored eight points.

Men's basketball

Dominican University of California could not hold on to a late lead as the Penguins fell to Biola, 68-64, Thursday night. Jaayden Bush led the Penguins with 15 points and seven rebounds, with PJ Volz adding 15 points of his own to lead four Dominican players in double figures.

Baseball

An evenly-matched contest slipped away from College of Marin in the eighth inning as the Mariners fell to host College of the Sequoias, 14-11, in Visalia on Friday. The teams were tied 9-9 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, when the Giants took a one-run lead. Marin rallied for two runs in the top of the eighth, but the Giants secured the win with four runs in the bottom the inning.

Chris Delangis was 2-for-4 and scored twice for the Mariners, while Jake Ferguson was 2-for-5 with two RBI. The teams wrap up their three-game series on Saturday in Visalia.

Softball

Dominican University of California opened the season with a 5-1 victory Friday over Northwest Nazarene at the Great Park in Irvine. The Penguins' Shelby Keltner led the way from the plate and the circle as she went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a double, while tossing nine strikeouts during a complete game effort. Caitlyn Perales added a 2-for-3 day at the plate with two RBI and a double of her own.

Cheer

San Rafael High School is scheduled to host the NorCal Spirit of Cheer event Saturday. Gates open at 10:30 a.m. and the San Rafael cheer team is expected to perform at 11:49 a.m., followed later by junior varsity and coed performances. There will be 50 performances in all from different teams. Admission is $10.