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Dons lose heartbreaker to Seaside
McGill misses CCS with ankle injury
By Dick Sparrer
There were likely a few heads hanging after the Del Mar girls basketball team dropped a heartbreaking 50-49 decision to Seaside in the first round of the Central Coast Section Division II playoffs last week.
After all, the loss brought the Del Mar season to an abrupt end, while Soquel would go on to beat South San Francisco and advance to the CCS semifinals against Aragon.
Still, while the loss in the year's final game had to sting the Dons, they can't be disappointed with their performance in the 2001-02 season. Quite the contrary--the Dons have no reason to hang their heads and every reason to take great pride in their accomplishments of the recently completed campaign.
The Dons managed to finish second in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League, they made it to the CCS playoffs and they finished the year with a winning record at 21-7. So they have every reason to be proud.
And the Dons can be especially proud of their showing in the playoffs, considering they gave the Spartans all they could handle, even with Del Mar superstar Morgan McGill on the bench with an ankle injury.
Ali Mollet had to pick up the slack with McGill, the leading scorer in the CCS, out of action. And the sophomore guard did just that, pitching in a team-high 17 points.
But the Dons came up a point short when Seaside rallied from behind in the final period to pull out the win.
Del Mar led 7-4 at the first buzzer, but the Spartans went up by four at intermission, 17-13. The Dons reclaimed the lead in the third period by outscoring Seaside 19-11, but the Spartans battled back from a four-point deficit to outscore Del Mar 22-17 and win by one.
Senior forward Justine Stagi supported with 12 points, including a couple of three-pointers, and Gladia Castro finished in double digits with 11 points.
A.J. Galloway tossed in six points for the Dons and Lisa Nwoye added three.
Rounding out coach Reggie Synegal's talented Del Mar squad this year were Danielle Cedillo, Katrina Manubay, Anjuli Felix, Namsah Kargbo, Stacie Sakauye, Helena Oh and Sindy Bun.
Warriors lose
The Westmont boys and girls basketball teams both lost in CCS Division II first-round games. The boys dropped a tough 46-42 nod to Leigh, and the girls lost 64-35 to Los Gatos.
The Westmont boys fell behind early, then ended up a couple of buckets short in the clash with Leigh last Wednesday night on the Longhorns' floor.
Senior Clay Tolbert fired in a team-high 18 points in his final game for the Warriors. Matt Betti had a pair of threes among his eight points and Brandon Sligh also hit eight points. Mike Gorski and Mark Vega added four points apiece.
The Warriors were down 11-6 after a quarter but pulled to within three at the half, 17-14. Westmont cut the lead by another point in the third to to into the final quarter down just 31-29, but Leigh topped the Warriors 15-13 in the fourth to claim the four-point victory.
Westmont finished the year with a 16-11 season record.
The girls ended up 13-14 for the year after they lost a 64-35 nod to Los Gatos in the first round of the playoffs.
Senior guard Jennifer Brown canned 13 points to lead the Warriors and Karly Brownridge supported with nine points. Allyson Carrothers chipped in with six points, Shantale Higginson and Rachel Gelman had two each, and Shannon Stenzel added one.
The Wildcats outscored the Warriors in every period on the road to the victory.
Rounding out the Westmont squad this winter were Heather Rasmussen, Rachelle Brady, Jessica Carrow, Jennifer Chaney, Tiffani Higginson, Lindsey Sherman, Anna Maria Sul, Ann Baumgardner and Stacy Stenzel. The club was coached by John L. Mackey.
Panthers fall
Like Westmont, Prospect had little success at the CCS playoffs. The Prospect boys and girls both lost in the first round of CCS Division III play.
Kyle Bonvechio bombed 16 points, but the Prospect boys lost 65-42 to Burlingame in the first round of the playoffs.
Bonvechio led the Panthers with his 16 points, which included four three-pointers.
Matt Jasper finished with six points and Roma Ngaleo added five.
The Panthers were outscored in every period but the fourth as Burlingame built up a 26-point lead before the final quarter.
Prospect finished the year with a 14-13 season record.
The Prospect girls also finished 14-13 overall after losing 49-39 to Mills in the first round of CCS play.
Carolyn Okazaki was the scoring leader for the Panthers with 12 points.
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Campbell, California
