Los Gatos Weekly-Times Loss knocks Wildcats out of race By Dick Sparrer What a difference a day makes... or, in the case of the Los Gatos boys basketball team, four days. The Wildcats were celebrating their return to the title race in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League after a Jan. 29 win over Palo Alto. But four days later, a 74-57 loss to Milpitas all but ended any hopes the Cats had of getting a piece of the division crown. A third-quarter blitz by Milpitas sparked the Trojans to a key win over the Wildcats last week. Milpitas improved to 7-1 in the division with the win, and maybe more importantly, tagged Gatos with its third league loss. The Cats battled back later in the week with a 75-55 win over Santa Clara to push their league mark to 6-3 and their season record to 17-7. But the loss to Milpitas dropped Gatos two games back with just three left to play. Milpitas and Palo Alto share the league lead with matching 8-1 records, and Gatos is now a distant third at 6-3. The Cats play a key game this week, hosting Los Altos on Feb. 10, 7 p.m., before closing out the league season against Wilcox and Lynbrook the following week. Junior Beau Knight poured in 18 points, and senior Jonathan Groff added 17, but it wasn't enough for the Cats against the Trojans. Knight hit a pair of three-pointers, and Groff popped one. Matt Gingery joined the others in double digits with 11 points. Stephen Pulley added six points, Devan Denton four and Ben Winkelman one. Things went much better for the Wildcats later in the week against Santa Clara. The Cats outscored the Bruins in every period on the way to the 75-55 victory. Gingery had the hot hand with 24 points, including a three, and Groff chipped in with 19 points. Knight tossed in nine points, Ross Halper five, Denton, Pulley and David Whiteside four each, and Winkelman, Chris Warren and Dan Kramer two each. The Los Gatos girls, meanwhile, lost two league games last week. The Wildcats fell 55-43 to Monta Vista, then lost 52-46 to Santa Clara. The Cats are now 1-8 in the De Anza Division of the SCVAL and 9-12 for the year. Sophomore Brett Sickler joined the varsity squad in time for the Monta Vista game and led the Wildcats with 12 points. But the Cats still dropped a 12-point decision to the powerful Matadors. Veteran Trina Mills joined Sickler in double digits. The 6-foot-1 senior forward tossed in 11 points for the Cats, including a three-pointer. Royya Modir tossed in five points, and Nancy Shishido, Sara Peetz, Katrina Sortino and Tara Eichinger had three points each. Modir, Shishido, Sortino and Eichinger each popped three-pointers. Sara Clark had two points, and Shannon Hart hit one to round out the scoring for Los Gatos. The Wildcats found themselves down by 22 after just a period as the Mats outscored them 29-7 in the first quarter. The Cats could never make up the difference. Los Gatos gave Santa Clara a much tougher game later in the week. The Bruins led 15-12 after a period, but the Cats tied it 26-26 by intermission. [ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, February 10, 1999. ©1999 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.