Saratoga News

Sports

Falcons start 2nd half just like they ended the 1st--winning

By Dick Sparrer

One trip through the schedule in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League ended and another began for the Saratoga girls basketball team last week.

And the second half started just the way the first half ended--with the Falcons winning a basketball game.

Saratoga closed out the first half of the league slate with a 46-39 win over Santa Clara, then opened the second half with a 49-42 win over Lynbrook.

The two wins helped the Falcons improve to 7-0 in division play and 18-3 for the year. More importantly, though, the two victories put some distance between Saratoga and the rest of the pack. The win over Santa Clara left the Bruins 4-2 in division play, the closest team to Saratoga in the race. Lynbrook (4-3), Monta Vista (3-3) and Homestead (2-3) are all three games back on the loss side. Los Altos (2-5) and Cupertino (1-6) round out the league.

The win over Santa Clara last week was a big one for the Falcons. Had the Bruins won, the clubs would have been locked in a first-place tie. But Saratoga was going to have none of that.

After leading just 20-17 at intermission, the Falcons unloaded on the Bruins 18-6 in the third quarter to take command of the game.

Junior Alex Sclavos tossed in 14 points, including a three-pointer, and senior Vanessa Guzman added 10 points to lead Saratoga to the win. Jessica Bramlett had five points, including a three, and Baylee Yates also popped five. Sheeva Hamidieh hit four points, Hanna Nielson three, Nicole Gragnola and Laura Ruddy two apiece and Erica Baba one.

Saratoga had to battle from behind to pull out the seven-point win over Lynbrook later in the week. The Vikings were up 18-13 after a quarter, 31-24 at the half and 39-34 after three periods. But Saratoga held the Vikes to just three points in the fourth while tossing in 15 of its own to claim the victory.

Nielson had the hot hand with 18 points in the win. She buried four threes among her five field goals and added four points at the free-throw line.

Bramlett added 10 points, including a three, and Sclavos had nine. Baba had two threes on her way to eight points, Guzman had three points and Hamidieh had one.