Saratoga News
Sports
Saratoga girls are closing in on a league basketball championship
By Dick Sparrer
It's all up to the girls on the Saratoga basketball team now.
The Falcons have a two-game lead with two games to play in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, and a win in either one with give their sole ownership of the league crown.
Saratoga already clinched no worse than a title tie with a solid 50-32 win over Cupertino last week. The win, following a tough 50-44 loss to Monta Vista just a few days earlier, left the Falcons 9-1 in the division and 20-4 for the season.
Monta Vista and Lynbrook share second place with matching 7-3 records, but it won't matter much to the Falcons what the Matadors and Vikings do this week--that is, as long as Saratoga takes care of business.
The Falcons will host fourth-place Santa Clara (5-5) on Feb. 12, 7 p.m., before visiting sixth-place Los Altos (2-7) on Feb. 15, 6:15 p.m. A win in either game secures a championship for Saratoga.
'Toga wrapped up no worse than a title tie with the win over Cupertino last Friday night. The Falcons, though, had trouble shaking the last-place Pioneers (1-10).
The clubs were locked in a 9-9 tie after the first period, and it was still tied 19-19 at intermission. Coach Kevin White's crew came out inspired in the second half, though, outscoring the Pioneers 11-7 in the third and then blasting Cupertino 20-6 in the fourth to win by 18.
Junior Alex Sclavos topped a list of three Falcons in double digits in the win. The 5-foot-8 forward pitched in 15 points, including three points at the free-throw line.
Erica Baba, a 5-foot-5 senior point guard, fired in 11 points, including five at the line, and 5-foot-10 freshman forward Hannah Nielson added 10 points.
Sheeva Hamidieh added seven points, Baylee Yates three, Vanessa Guzman two and Nicole Gragnola and Kattie Gasik one each.
Things didn't got quite as well for the Saratoga boys last week. The Falcons lost a tough 49-46 overtime decision to first-place Cupertino after falling 50-47 to Gunn.
The two losses left the Falcons 4-6 in the De Anza Division and 13-10 for the year heading into the final two games of the regular season. Saratoga hosts Milpitas on Feb. 13, 7 p.m., before heading to Los Gatos on Feb. 15, 7:45 p.m.
The Falcons battled back from a six-point deficit to outscore Cupertino 14-8 in the final period and tie the game 41-41 to force overtime. But the Pioneers topped Saratoga 8-5 in the extra point to pull out the win.
Senior Keon Ghafouri had the hot hand for the Falcons in the clash with the Pioneers. The 5-foot-10 senior guard had a pair of three-pointers among his six field goals and he added six points at the charity line to finish with a team-high 20 points for Saratoga.
Six-foot-two senior forward Andy Capek chipped in with 10 points and 6-foot senior center Steven Walker had eight.
Alvin Hsia added four points, Daniel Chou three and Owen Huang one.
Earlier in the week, the Falcons led by four at the half, but Gunn came back to outscore Saratoga 11-6 in the third and 15-13 in the fourth to win by three.
