After nearly a decade of watching others celebrate a league championship run, the Scotts Valley girls’ basketball team finally got the chance to pop the cap off the apple cider bottles to drink a toast to one of their own.
Junior Sammy Rebbert and sophomore Hanna Shehorn each scored 15 points to help lift the Falcons past Santa Cruz en route to a 52-31 victory, and securing the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League for the first time since the 2015-16 season.
“I just feel so lucky to be able to play against such a good program like Santa Cruz, after all their wins,” Rebbert said. “We’ve been working hard, the 6am shootaround, everything. We knew we were better than last game.”
Scotts Valley head coach Stu Hurvitz wasn’t too quick to celebrate, though. Especially with two games and the SCCAL Postseason Tournament left to be played.
However, having a strong grasp on the regular season league title does make it easier for him to sleep at night.
“We haven’t changed our game plan all season,” Hurvitz said. “Championship teams play good defense. We’ve been harping on it, you can see it here tonight. I think the girls played hard, they’re playing tough. That’s our mantra, is playing tough. It’s going better than I would have thought at the beginning of the year, but I’m not surprised at the same time.”
It’s the first time in nine years that a team other than Santa Cruz, Aptos or Soquel captured the SCCAL crown.
Santa Cruz and Aptos are the defending co-champions. Santa Cruz won it again in 2022-23, 2021-22 and 2020-21; Aptos in 2019-20, 2018-19 (co-champion) and 2017-18; and Soquel won its titles in 2018-19 (co-champion) and 2016-17.
Scotts Valley won it all in the 2015-16 season, going 12-0 in league play. That same year they lost, 52-51, to Sacred Heart Prep in heartbreaking fashion in the Central Coast Section Division IV championship game.
Bringing back a league title to Scotts Valley is a huge deal for Rebbert, who said as of last season they were already seen as the underdogs.
“Nobody really thought much of us and I feel like we definitely showed them what a little hard work can do,” Rebbert said.
Shehorn added it was great to wrap up the league title in front of a boisterous home crowd.
“We’ve been putting in the work every day for two and a half hours, just grinding out,” she said. “We went out there, played our game and took it to them.”
Tuesday night’s contest began like a see-saw battle as anticipated, yet it was Scotts Valley that had a comfortable 22-16 lead going into halftime.
Shehorn led the Falcons with nine points going into halftime, followed by Rebbert with seven. Senior standout center Claire Skinner was held to just two points in the second quarter.
“It’s their scrappiness. I feel they’re a lot like us in that way,” Rebbert said about Santa Cruz. “No matter what the score is, no matter who they’re playing, they’re scrappy and they’re tough. Good defense, definitely.”
The Falcons initially began the game in man-to-man defense, but slowly switched over to a 2-3 zone. Specifically to guard Santa Cruz’s main shooter in Mila Conn, who finished with 12 points.
“Mila is definitely a big threat, we were focusing on trapping her down low,” Shehorn said. “We were just focusing on not letting them have 3-pointers, just playing the best defense we could.”
Brooklyn Williams had a big third quarter by scoring six points for Scotts Valley, and Skinner also began to heat up by adding another six.
“Claire is getting better and better. Her improved play is helping us in these big games,” Hurvitz said. “We gotta play big if we’re going to compete for the championship, and it’s starting to work.”
Shehorn drained a pair of 3-pointers in the final stanza for the Falcons, who led by as many as 22 points.
“What’s nice is we have a good balance. We don’t have the same high scorer every game,” Hurvitz said. “Part of the game plan is not having one person score 25. The game plan is everybody’s getting open for shots, and taking them when you’re open.”
Scotts Valley hosted San Lorenzo Valley High for Senior Night on Feb. 6. Game results were not available prior to this publication’s deadline.
The Falcons (18-2, 8-0) play at Soquel (5-10, 3-5) in the teams’ regular season finale on Feb. 8 at 5:30pm.
Scotts Valley will most likely earn the top seed and a bye in the first round of the SCCAL Postseason Tournament, which begins Feb. 10. They will host the lowest remaining seed in the second round on Feb. 12, followed by the finals at Cabrillo College on Feb. 15 at 5pm.
“I think we’ve proven that you can’t underestimate any team, so we need to take that in regards with them,” Rebbert said. “Even though Aptos, Santa Cruz were our main opponents and we beat them, it’s still fair game in the tournament. It’s all a fresh start.”
