Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Westmont's Alyssa Parsons gets a big hug from teammate Melissa Newberg after the Warriors won the CCS Division II championship. Teammate Sabine Bosklopper looks on with a smile.

Warriors win CCS title

And they do it with Newberg on the bench

By Dick Sparrer

Chris Ressa knew his Westmont girls were in a tough league.

The Warriors had to battle the likes of either Mitty, Presentation, Leland or Leigh just about every week as they fought their way through the basketball race in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.

When the season began, Ressa wasn't quite sure what playing in such a tough division would mean for his Warriors. He knows now.

It made the Warriors tough enough to win a Central Coast Section championship.

Westmont finished third in the rugged Mt. Hamilton Division and earned a place in the playoffs. Then the Warriors put four straight wins together to take the CCS Division II crown.

The Warriors wrapped up the title on Saturday night with a convincing 46-35 win over Soquel--what's more, they did it with their best player, Melissa Newberg, on the bench with an Achilles injury.

The win left Westmont with a 21-9 season record, and that's good enough for the No. 4 in the upcoming Northern California Division II playoffs. The Warriors opened at home on March 10, 7:30 p.m., against Ukiah. The winner advances to the semifinals on March 12, with that winner playing for the Northern California championship on March 14 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

It all started back in November for the Warriors when they put together a solid 11-3 record against some tough preseason competition.

The rugged slate was to prepare the Warriors for the league season, and Ressa knew going in that the Mt. Hamilton slate was going to be a tough one.

"Five of the top 10 teams in the county may be in the same league," he said before the season began.

He wasn't far off.

Mitty won the division title with Presentation second, and the two went on to meet in the CCS Division I championship game with Mitty winning again.

Leland and Leigh each put together impressive records, and both went on to play in the CCS Division II playoffs.

Westmont advanced to the CCS Division II event as well--and ended up winning it all.

Sheryl Mahaffey poured in 24 points to lead the Warriors to an exciting 11-point win over Soquel in the CCS championship game. The talented sophomore pitched in a pair of three-pointers among her nine field goals, and she added four points at the free-throw line.

Soph Alyssa Parsons chipped in with eight points for the Warriors, Sabine Bosklopper added six, Lauren Costanzo hit four and Melissa Taylor had two.

Westmont trailed 10-9 after a period but bombed Soquel 19-7 in the second to take an 11-point lead by the half, 28-17. The Warriors coasted from there to the victory.

Bosklopper and Costanzo starred for the Warriors a game earlier in a 46-42 win over St. Francis in the semifinals.

Bosklopper, a 6-foot senior center, jammed 14 points to lead all Westmont scorers in the impressive win over the Lancers and Costanzo, a 5-foot-6 senior guard, joined her in double digits with 10.

Mahaffey and Zuleeka Mohamed supported with six points apiece, and Taylor and Parsons had four each.

The clubs had entered the game with matching 20-9 records, but Westmont fought back from a three-point deficit at the half to pull out the win. The Warriors outscored the Lancers 23-18 in a crucial fourth-quarter surge.

Mahaffey had pitched in 15 points, and Newberg added 13 to lead the Warriors to a 55-36 win over North Salinas a game earlier.

Taylor hit nine; Costanzo, six; Mohamed and Parsons, four apiece; and Emillia Ortiz and Veronica Sifuentez, two each.

Westmont opened the CCS playoffs with a lopsided 61-39 win over King City. Newberg canned a couple of threes on her way to 19 points, and Mahaffey hit a three on her way to 15. Taylor chipped in with eight points, and Parsons popped five. Bosklopper, Ortiz and Mohamed added four points each and Jennifer Casselberry hit two.

Panthers fall

In other local playoff activity last week, Prospect dropped a 1-0 heartbreaker in overtime to Leland in the CCS Division I title game. The clubs battled to a scoreless tie in regulation, but Leland scored in the first of two overtime periods to pull out the win.

Prospect advanced to the finals with a 4-0 win over Woodside, a 2-1 win over Live Oak and a 2-1 win over King City on penalty kicks.

Goalkeeper Brandon Delgado starred in the title game for the Panthers, and Greg Ortiz, Tony Chang, Josh Reed, Josh Anderson, Francisco Martinez and Juan Maleza were other key players on the squad that posted an outstanding 15-3-3 record.

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