Coming off the first Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League title in school history, the Scotts Valley High girls basketball team has high hopes as it prepares for the 2011-12 season.
“I’m really excited for league this year,” senior guard Natalia Ebrahimian said. “We have such a strong group of girls who all play so well together. I’m pumped. We should do even better than last year.”
It will be difficult to top the Falcons’ 12-0 SCCAL record (23-7 overall), including a second-place finish in the Central Coast Section and a tight loss in the Northern California quarterfinals.
The team has lost leading scorer Liz Munger to graduation, and star point guard Tori McBride left for Soquel High School.
However, Ebrahimian, along with sophomores Autumn Gaudice-Murphy, Nadene Hart and Angela Silver and freshman Mandy Silver, the Falcons expect to pick up the slack easily. Tori Bridges, the only senior on the team besides Ebrahimian will also be a factor for the Falcons.
In an effort to prepare his squad for another run at a league championship, head coach Jim Hart has scheduled a series of difficult games starting next week.
The team will face defending respective league champs Palo Alto, Carmel, Mitty, Pinewood and Notre Dame Belmont high schools during a grueling preseason.
“I tried to schedule as tough a preseason as possible,” Hart said. “Iron sharpens iron, and we need to be ready.”
The Falcons open the season Wednesday, Nov. 30, at Palo Alto.
San Lorenzo Valley
The SLV girls basketball teams hopes to get back on track as new head coach Jerry Crow takes the reins from Laura Lang, the coach last season. Crow has assisted with the varsity boys team and has been a longtime softball coach for the Cougars.
“We are not looking to win it all this year,” Crow said. “We just really need to show some improvement over last season.”
The Cougars won just two games last year and finished last in the league with a 1-10 league record, 2-21 overall.
Sisters Angie and Hyllery Hershberger will help lead the Cougar team this season, along with senior Matty Prader. The team lost leaders Shannon Belardi and Savanna Prather to graduation last year.
The Cougars season starts Thursday, Dec. 1, at Yerba Buena in San Jose.
