And no one knows that better than the girls basketball team at Saratoga High School.

The Falcons, co-champions in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League this season, will open the Central Coast Section Division III playoffs at home this week against either North Monterey County or Notre Dame­Belmont.

The Saratoga boys, meanwhile, qualified for a playoff spot in the Division III tournament and will open the playoffs on the road. The Falcons, 18-9 for the year and the No. 12 seed in their division, visit St. Francis (No. 5, 10-17) on Feb. 26, 7 p.m. The winner advances to the tournament quarterfinals Feb. 28, 2:45 p.m., at Piedmont Hills.

The girls, though, will be spectators in the first round. No. 19 seed North Monterey County (10-16) and No. 14 Notre Dame­Belmont (11-14) were to collide in a first-round game with the winner to visit Saratoga (No. 3, 19-5) on Feb. 26, 7 p.m. The winner moves on to the CCS Division III quarterfinals on Feb. 28, 6:15 p.m., at Notre Dame­Belmont.

The Falcons nailed a share of the De Anza Division title last week with wins over Los Gatos and Lynbrook. Saratoga and Homestead both finished 10-2 in the division.

Saratoga clinched a piece of the crown with a 58-45 win over Lynbrook last Friday night. The Falcons left no doubt as to their intentions by jumping out to a 21-3 first-quarter lead and 37-11 advantage by halftime.

Senior guard Victoria Liu led the assault with a team-high 16 points, including four three-point buckets. Junior forward Bryte Nielsen joined her in double digits with 14 points, six coming at the free-throw line.

Amy Yee supported with eight points, including a pair of threes, and Julia Anderson popped seven. Tiffany Tan hit a couple of threes to finish with six points, Hannah Gladwell had four points, Daphne Wu hit two and Mika Lewis added on.

Early in the week, the Falcons held on for a tight win over Los Gatos. The Cats and Falcons were locked in a 30-30 tie heading into the final period before Saratoga topped Gatos 16-12 to win by four.

Nielsen had a big night for the Falcons in the win. She had three threes among her seven field goals and added three free throws to finish with a team-high 20 points.

Liu and Anderson chipped in with seven points apiece, Tan had six, Yee hit four and Jordana Dreyfuss added two. Liu and Tan each popped three-pointers.

Falcons lose two

The Saratoga boys stumbled in the final week of the league season, losing 578-52 to Lynbrook and 53-50 to Mountain View.

The loss to Mountain View to open the week was especially tough for the Falcons. The clubs entered the game with first place in the SCVAL's El Camino Division on the line. But the Spartans won the game, and despite a loss later in the week, clinched the title with a 10-2 record. Cupertino was second at 9-3 and Saratoga slipped to third at 8-4 with the loss to the Vikings on Friday.

Mountain View took a tight six-point lead into the final period against Saratoga, then held on for the three-point win to open play last week.

Junior center Danny Wallace led all Saratoga scorers with 17 points, seven of them coming at the charity line. Senior guard Aron Mitsunaga also hit seven free throws and finished with 15 points.

Junior forward Adam Sato had 10 points to join the two in double digits. Nima Rad added four points and Irving Chien and Kyle Matsuura had two points apiece.

Later in the week, Lynbrook outscored Saratoga in each of the first three periods, then held off a late surge by the Falcons to nail the five-point win.

Wallace was the scoring leader in this one, too, pouring 17 points. Once again he had seven points at the free-throw line.

Rad, Matsuura and Chris Etterman each finished with seven points and all buried three-point buckets. Mitsunaga added six points, Ben Coggins four and Sato and Chien two each.

Basketball playoffs

The Westmont girls and boys teams and the Prospect and Del Mar girls all open play this week in the CCS basketball playoffs.

The Westmont boys, co-champs in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League, open at home on Feb. 25, 7 p.m., against Gunn. The Warriors, 19-8 for the year, are the No. 8 seed in the CCS Division II tourney and the Titans (15-12) are No. 9. The winner will face No. 1 seed Serra (21-4) on Feb. 28, 4:30 p.m., at Oak Grove.

The Westmont girls (No. 10, 13-13) are on the road to visit Aptos 9No. 7, 19-9) on Feb. 26, 7 p.m. The winner will be on the floor on Feb. 28, 2:45 p.m., at Mt. Pleasant in the Division II quarterfinals.

Del Mar (No. 16, 14-13) was to open play in Division III on Feb. 24 at home against Jefferson (No. 17, 15-11). The winner will visit Soquel (No. 1, 26-1) on Feb. 26, 7 p.m.

The Prospect girls (No. 10, 19-7), co-champs in the BVAL's West Valley Division, will visit Valley Christian (No. 7, 10-17) on Feb. 25, 7 p.m., with the winner to challenge Carmel (No. 2, 20-5) at North Salinas on Feb. 28, noon.