By Max Schneider
Special to the Almanac
When the Woodside boys’ basketball team and the M-A girls’ team took the court for the Peninsula Athletic League (PAL) playoffs on February 15, they both expected, with good reason, to win without too much effort. After all, both were No. 1 seeds. But both were terribly wrong.
Woodside barely managed to pull out a 63-60 win over visiting Mills, the No. 2 seed out of the PAL Central Division, while M-A was stunned at home by losing to Burlingame, 54-50. Burlingame was also the No. 2 seed out of the PAL Central.
Woodside boys
The Wildcats were very lucky to finish last Wednesday with a victory. Sloppy defense and inefficient offense by Woodside gave the visitors an early lead that they carried through the first half. Mills found itself up 30-25 at halftime.Woodside came out steadier in the third quarter and even led, 41-40, with 1:45 to go in the period. Mills ended the quarter with a run though, and was up 48-44 entering the final period.
The lead flip-flopped several times, and then Woodside showed its skill in closing out tight games and started dominating. Going on a 10-3 run that effectively ended the game, the Wildcats were able to close it out at the foul line, where they displayed remarkable efficiency.
Co-captains James Sandoval (21 points, 10 rebounds) and J.R. Valdez (17 points, 10 rebounds) both had impressive double-doubles to lead Woodside. Jim Moors added a season-high 10.
Shawn Echols paced Mills with a game-high 28 points and Marty Armenta added 15.
Woodside’s lack of defensive intensity at the start of the contest, however, was what stuck with the team and head coach Darrell Barbour following the game.
“We definitely need to get better at on-the-ball defense,” Barbour said.
The Wildcats were to next play chief rival Menlo School at the PAL semi-finals, but because the Almanac went to press Friday, February 17, the details will be in the next issue.
M-A girls
The M-A girls’ basketball season ended on a sour note, as it lost a game most had it pegged to dominate.The Bears seemed to do the right things to win: they played excellent defense and limited Burlingame’s top scorer Marianna Pappageorge to 10 points.
They failed to stop the Panthers’ lethal Erin Scattini, however, and she erupted for a game-high 19 points.
M-A unraveled in the second quarter, committing numerous turnovers and letting Burlingame reach halftime with a 32-23 lead. The Bears made a spirited rally to get within 2 with a minute to go in the fourth, but Burlingame was able to close it out on the foul line.
M-A was led by Karley Marty’s 12 points, and ever-improving freshman forward Linda Pita added 11. Rachel Baum had 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Panthers.
After an impressive pre- and regular season, M-A undoubtedly expected to advance farther in the PAL playoffs and will set its sights on the upcoming Central Coast Section (CCS) tournament.
Sports reporter Max Schneider is a junior at Woodside High School.
