CCS Playoffs: Menlo ousts Falcon girls, boys in second round

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Girls:
In one of their lowest scoring games of the season, theScottsValleyHigh Schoolgirls basketball team fell toMenloSchool39-35 at the Notre Dame Belmont campus on Feb. 25. The Falcons could not find the bottom of the net through the entire first quarter and didn’t score from the field until the 6:20 mark in the second quarter. 
Senior captain Natalia Ebrahimian finished the game with a team-high 15 points and hit buzzer-beaters to finish out the second and third quarters.
“Natalia was really everywhere tonight,” Head Coach Jim Hart, said. “She left it all on the court. It’s just hard to end the season this way. We had higher goals than that.”
Despite a rough first half, the Falcons rallied back in the fourth quarter and with two minutes left in the game took a one point lead. However Menlo kept their composure and sank two shots in the final minutes to secure the lead and take home the win. 
ScottsValleyfinished the season 18-9 including a third place finish in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League behind Soquel and St Francis. 
Boys:
What was the best season inScottsValleyHigh Schoolboys basketball history has come to an end as the Falcons fell to theMenloSchool59-50 in the semi-finals of the Central Coast Section playoffs on Feb. 23. 
Last season the Falcons were 1-11 in league play and finished in last place in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League standings as they had done a dismal seven out of the last ten years. 
Enter new Head Coach Charles Burks.
Burks, who coached the Amateur Athletic Union teams inSanta Cruzfor the last 13 years and coached at Santa Cruz High for the previous 20 years, came on the scene atScottsValleyand began building the team.
“I spend most of my time coaching the simplest aspects of the game,” Burks said. “I teach them the fundamentals and as long as the kids are having fun, basketball will just happen.”
The Falcons went 6-5 in the preseason and then 4-8 in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League which earned them a spot in the CCS playoffs where they earned the first postseason victory in school history. 
Led by senior Jack Pasquini and junior Garrett Johnston, the Falcons bested Greenfield High 56-46 on Feb. 21. The playoff run fell short against the Menlo School, but the playoff win capped a successful season for the Falcons