The Saratoga basketball teams will hit the road this week, and they're looking forward to the trip.

The Saratoga boys and girls teams will both travel to open the Central Coast Section Division III playoffs.

It will be a relatively short trip for the Saratoga boys. The Falcons will take their 17-7 record to Pioneer to visit the Mustangs (19-8) on Feb. 27, 7 p.m. Pioneer is the No. 5 seeded team in the division and the Falcons are the No. 12 seed. The winner advances to the CCS quarterfinals on March 1, 1 p.m., at Piedmont Hills.

The girls will have a longer road to travel. Saratoga (20-6, No. 9 seed) will head to Burlingame (20-6, No. 8 seed) on Feb. 26, 7 p.m. The winner plays again on March 1, 1 p.m. at Gunn in Palo Alto.

The Saratoga girls finished second to Palo Alto in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League this winter.

The Falcons wrapped up the league season with wins over Los Gatos and Monta Vista to post a 10-2 record. Saratoga topped the Matadors 51-43, then edged Gatos 40-36.

Jordan Henry and Victoria Liu tossed in 12 points apiece to lead the Falcons to the eight-point win over the Mats. Liu drained four three-pointers and Henry jammed four field goals and hit two free throws.

Bryte Nielsen had a three among her four field goals to wind up with nine points in the win. Tiffany Tan supported with eight points, Amy Yee had four and Sarah Yee, Angela Wong and Katie Levinson hit points each.

The Falcons led by just a point at the first buzzer, 15-14, but opened up a 27-18 lead by intermission. Saratoga stretched that lead to 15 points by the end of the third quarter and coasted from there to the victory.

Things were much closer on Friday night when the Falcons played host to Los Gatos.

The Falcons trailed 12-4 after a quarter and were down 20-13 at the half. But Saratoga topped Gatos 17-8 in the third period to move in front 30-28, the outscored the Cats 10-8 in the fourth to win by four.

Tan had the hot hand for the Falcons with 15 points. She had a pair of threes among her five field goals and she added three points at the free-throw line.

Julie Anderson pitched in eight points on four buckets from the field and Liu had a three among her seven points. Nielsen finished with six points and S. Yee and Levinson had two apiece.


Falcons top Matadors

The Saratoga boys, meanwhile, pulled out a tight 54-48 win over Monta Vista to close out the El Camino Division season last week. The Falcons ended up 9-3 in the division, finishing second to Los Altos.

Junior pointguard Aron Mitsunaga was the scoring leader for the Falcons in the win with 13 points on five field goals and three free throws.

Senior guard Matt Ashburn popped a pair of threes and six free throws to finish with 12 points in the win. Dan Wallace also finished in double digits with 12 points.

Greg Van Hoesen tossed in six points for the Falcons, Frank Wallace had five, Lawrence Hui hit four and Irving Chien had two.

The Falcons were down a point after a quarter, but chipped away to top Monta Vista 14-10 in the second, 11-9 in the third and 16-15 in the fourth to clinch the win.


Basketball playoffs

The Westmont girls and boys teams are in the Division II field.

The Westmont boys (20-7, #3 seed) will host Lincoln (12-15, No. 14 seed) on Feb. 26, 7 p.m., with the winner playing at Oak Grove on March 1, 4:30 p.m. The Westmont girls (8-15, No. 14 seed) will visit St. Francis (15-12, No. 3 seed) on Feb. 27, 7 p.m., with the winner playing at Mt. Pleasant on March 1, 1 p.m.

The Lynbrook girls (16-9, No. 11 seed), meanwhile, are at Menlo-Atherton (13-14, No. 6) on Feb. 27, 7 p.m., in CCS Division II action. The winner will play at Mt. Pleasant at 1 p.m. Saturday.

The Vikings tied Homestead for first place in the SCVAL's El Camino Division. The two clubs recorded matching 11-1 records.