The Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League Girls Championship took place for the first time in the sport’s history at Aptos High School last week.
Scotts Valley High sophomore Kayse Martinovsky pinned Aptos High’s Ryan Tosello in the 133-pound division title match on Feb. 11. Sophomore Danica Kelley (116) and Tyler France (143) won their titles by forfeit.
The top three finishers in each weight class at the SCCAL Championships advanced to the Central Coast Section Championships at Watsonville High starting Friday.
Kelly (116) earned a No. 2 seed in the 116-pound division and France (143) is the No. 6 seed in her weight class. Martinovsky (131) was selected as an alternate.
Spectators aren’t allowed on the first day of competition, but they will be allowed to attend Saturday with the first set of matches slated for 9am and the championships at 7pm.
Fans must be vaccinated or have a negative PCR test within the previous 48 hours. The spectators will only be allowed inside when their student is competing.
Boys basketball
Cougars advance to the CCS playoffs: San Lorenzo Valley High earned the No. 5 seed in the CCS Division IV bracket. The Cougars (17-7), the SCCAL’s third-place finisher, will play at No. 4 Terra Nova (13-11) in Tuesday’s quarterfinals at 7pm.
The winner will likely face top-seeded Palma (18-4) on Feb. 24 at a site and time yet to be determined. The Chieftains open against either No. 9 Design Tech (11-9) or No. 8 James Lick (8-13), who square off Saturday in San Jose.
The King’s Academy (18-6) is the No. 2 seed and Menlo (17-7) is No. 3.
Girls basketball
Falcons soar into the CCS playoffs: Scotts Valley High will compete in the Division IV field. The No. 4-seeded Falcons have a bye-week until Tuesday’s quarterfinals and will open the playoffs at home.
Scotts Valley (14-8) will host either No. 12 Design Tech (13-8) or No. 5 Carmel (15-3) at 7pm.
If the Falcons get past the quarterfinals, they’ll likely face top-seeded Menlo (9-8) in the semifinals. Menlo faces either No. 9 Pacific Grove (14-5) or No. 8 Sacred Heart Prep (7-14) in its first game.
The Open Division Championship will be played at Kaiser Permanente Arena — home of the NBA G League’s Santa Cruz Warriors — on Feb. 25. Open Division qualifiers are No. 1. Archbishop Mitty (23-1), No. 2. St. Ignatius (16-7), No. 3. Pinewood (19-1), No. 4. Valley Christian (18-6), No. 5. Saint Francis (16-6), 6. Sacred Heart Cathedral (9-11), No. 7. Palo Alto (20-2) and No. 8. Half Moon Bay (20-4).
Scotts Valley 53, at Harbor 12: Senior Kaitlin Imai scored 19 points for the Falcons in a win against the Pirates in the teams’ SCCAL regular-season finale Feb. 9.
Senior Elaina Benoit scored 10 points for the Falcons, who wrapped up the season with a 7-3 record in league play and a second place finish in the SCCAL. Freshman Ruby Erickson added seven points and five rebounds.
Scotts Valley 56, at Soquel 53: Senior Kaitlin Imai made eight 3-pointers and finished with 33 points for the Falcons in their win over the Knights in SCCAL play Feb. 8.
Imai was 9-of-10 from the charity stripe to go along with six rebounds and three steals. Senior Elaina Benoit scored nine points on three 3-pointers, and Ava Turowski had three points, 11 rebounds, three assists and two steals for the Falcons.
