It had been a decade since the Scotts Valley High girls’ basketball team made it all the way to the Central Coast Section finals back during the 2015-16 season.
That drought was broken Thursday night as the No. 2 seeded Falcons cruised to a 58-41 victory over No. 3 Sacred Heart Prep in the Division IV semifinals.
Junior guard Hanna Shehorn had a game-best 24 points, including five 3-pointers for Scotts Valley, which improved to a 26-1 overall record.
“The way the girls responded, I was super proud because they have a goal,” Scotts Valley head coach Stu Hurvitz said. “They want to win the CCS.”
Freshman center Isabelle Jas recorded a double-double with 15 points and 17 rebounds for the Falcons, while teammate senior Brooklyn Williams contributed 12 points.
Senior guard Sammy Rebbert added seven points for Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League champion Scotts Valley.
Next up, Scotts Valley will take on top seeded Notre Dame-Belmont at Mission College on Saturday at 11am.
Notre Dame—fourth place finishers in the West Bay Athletic League Foothill Division—is coming off a 39-31 win against No. 4 Menlo School in the semifinals.
On Thursday, the Falcons got off to its notorious slow start but it didn’t take long for them to flip the switch.
They went on an 11-2 run in the final two minutes of the first quarter to tie the score at 13-all.
“Everybody’s got a good game plan until they get punched in the mouth,” Hurvitz said. “We got hit in the mouth out of the gate and we responded.”
In the second period, Jas continued to crash the boards under the rim while Shehorn lit up the scoreboard with a pair of shots from beyond the arc.
“It’s not just the points,” Hurvitz said. “[Shehorn] defends well. Her and Sammy [Rebbert] play so good together. To their credit, they have really learned this year, especially, how to play together.”
Scotts Valley built a comfortable lead at 35-23 going into halftime by outscoring the Gators, 22-10.
“Once we got past those first couple of minutes, they were getting after every loose ball,” Hurvitz said. “Taking the press off, and us just playing straight-up defense really helped us.”
The Falcon defense played lights out in the second half. They held SHP to just six points in the third quarter, and took the biggest lead of the game at 49-29.
Hurvitz said the biggest challenge was figuring out where to place Jas on the defensive side.
SHP plays a five-out, which is a five guard system that could’ve potentially taken Jas away from the paint, yet he made the proper adjustments.
Hurvitz had also originally put Guerra to cover SHP standout senior guard Katherine Baron. But, the Falcon coach put Rebbert up to the task and she passed with flying colors.
“It’s just finding the right combination, and where to go made a big difference,” Hurvitz said.
After the game, Hurvitz received a surprising gift of a picture frame from his players to commemorate his 100th career win as a girls basketball head coach.
Hurvitz’s wife and mother-in-law, along with former Scotts Valley player and All-SCCAL honoree Ella Giguiere (Class of 2000) were in attendance for the ceremony.
“I was really caught by surprise,” Hurvitz said. “I don’t love the spotlight on me, but it really touched me.”
