Williams powers Marin Catholic into MCAL playoffs
The winter regular season wrapped up last week with most of the MCAL playoff races coming down to the final day — or in the case of girls basketball, beyond the final day.
Perhaps the strongest individual performance of the week came from Marin Catholic's Charles Williams, who scored 71 points across two games to lift the Wildcats into the MCAL postseason.
Elsewhere, the MC girls capped an undefeated league season and the Tam girls soccer team claimed its first regular-season title since 2020.
CHARLES WILLIAMS, MARIN CATHOLIC BOYS BASKETBALL >>
The Wildcats needed to go 2-0 in league last week to snag the fourth and final playoff spot. Thanks to a pair of massive games from Williams, MC took down Novato and Tam to make it into the tournament. Williams filled up the stat sheet with 32 points, six rebounds, three assists, and four steals in a 68-54 win against Novato on Tuesday. Williams was perhaps even better on Thursday, scoring 39 points and pulling down 11 rebounds in a 71-57 victory against the Red-tailed Hawks. Williams and the Wildcats face topseeded Branson in a semifinal
at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Terra Linda High. JAKE VASQUEZ, REDWOOD BOYS BASKETBALL >> Vasquez helped Redwood close out the season with a pair of crucial wins against Tam and Archie Williams, vaulting the Giants into the top two in league and securing a home game in Wednesday's semifinals. Vasquez was recognized prior to the Archie Williams game for setting a pair of record for Redwood, having scored more than 1,200
points and pulling down over 650 rebounds in his career. Vasquez added 19 points and 13 rebounds to those totals in a 50-47 victory against the Peregrine Falcons, who the Giants will face again on Wednesday. NICK CUBLEY, SAN MARIN BOYS BASKETBALL >> San Marin's standout scorer averaged 26 points per game last week as the Mustangs picked up league wins against San Rafael and Novato. Cubley scored 28 points against the Bulldogs
and added 24 more against the Hornets.
GIO BROVELLI, SAN RAFAEL BOYS BASKETBALL >> Brovelli and the Bulldogs picked up their lone win of the MCAL season on Thursday, as Brovelli hit the game-winning shot in the final 25 seconds to lift San Rafael to a 55-53 win against Terra Linda. Brovelli scored 18 points in that game and 22 earlier in the week in a loss against San Marin. CARLY AMBORN, SAN DOMENICO GIRLS BASKETBALL >> The Stanford-bound Amborn
was scoring at will this past week, averaging 36 points across two games as the Panthers wrapped up their league season with a 10-0 record. Amborn poured in 33 points against Lick-Wilmerding then went off for a careerhigh 39 points in a win against Marin Academy.
CECILY HADD AND IZZY MCFADDEN, MARIN CATHOLIC GIRLS BASKETBALL >> Hadd and McFadden combined to score just over 25 points per game last week as MC capped another unbeaten MCAL regular season with wins against Novato and Tam. Both players had nine points apiece in a Tuesday win against the Hornets. Hadd scored 17 points with five rebounds against Tam while McFadden put up 16 points and five rebounds. MC has won its past 55 regular-season MCAL games dating back to a loss against Redwood on Jan. 11, 2020.
LUKE DALY, BRANSON BOYS SOCCER >> Branson only played one league game last week but it was a crucial one. Daly scored the only goal of the game to secure all three points against Terra Linda on Monday — a result that ultimately lifted Branson into the league playoffs for the first time since 2018.
MAREN JONES AND SABINE SZYLKO, TAM GIRLS SOCCER >> Szylko had a pair of assists in a 2-0 win against Archie Williams on Tuesday that secured the regular-season title and the No. 1 seed for the Red-tailed Hawks. Szylko brought her tally of assists in league play this season to six, finishing tied atop the MCAL leaderboard with Branson's Whitney Collet. Jones scored Tam's lone goal in 1-1 draw against Marin Catholic on Thursday. Jones finished the season as the league's top goal scorer with 10 in eight games.
AVA KORICH, MARIN CATHOLIC GIRLS SOCCER >> Korich scored a pair of goals on Tuesday in a 3-0 victory against Novato then netted an Olimpico — scoring directly on a corner kick — as the Wildcats became the first team to get a result against Tam in MCAL this season with a 1-1 draw on Thursday. Korich and the No. 3 Wildcats travel to face No. 2 Branson in a semifinal at 3 p.m. Wednesday. SICILY GRASSO, SAN MARIN GIRLS SOCCER >> The Mustangs finished league with a flourish, earning their first two MCAL wins with a 3-0 victory against San Rafael on Tuesday and a 3-1 triumph against Novato on Thursday. Grasso assisted the opening goal and scored the second one against the Bulldogs then scored twice in the win against Novato.