Scotts Valley High senior Kaitlin Imai needed just three points to reach the 1,000-point milestone as a member of the Falcons girls’ basketball team.
What better way to do it than on senior night and in front of a home crowd as Scotts Valley posted a 70-11 crushing win over Harbor High in Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League play Tuesday evening.
Imai entered last night’s contest with 997 career points. She scored 11 points and continues to lead all Central Coast Section players with 398 points this season.
She is fourth in points per game (22.8) this season, according to statistics published on maxpreps.com.
Benoit made five 3-pointers and finished with a career high 27 points for the Falcons (11-7, 4-2), who play at Aptos on Friday at 6pm.
Scotts Valley 57, San Lorenzo Valley 33: Kaitlin Imai made four 3-pointers and finished with 29 points in the Falcons’ SCCAL win against the Cougars on Jan. 28.
The senior guard was 7-of-8 shooting from the free throw line, and had six rebounds, six blocks and three steals.
Senior guard Elaina Benoit made three 3-pointers and finished with nine points, to go along with four assists and three steals.
Junior Hailey McKinney had six points and five steals for the Falcons and senior Ava Turowski had six points, four rebounds and four assists.
Aptos 49, SLV 31: The Cougars lost to the Mariners in SCCAL action on Tuesday evening. SLV (7-10, 2-5) will play a make-up game at Scotts Valley today at 5:30pm.
Boys basketball
Aptos 60, SLV 40: Sophomore Cade Petersen had 11 points and eight rebounds for the Cougars in their loss to the Mariners in SCCAL action on Tuesday night.
Kai Groleau had 10 points and Asher Dolinger added seven points for the Cougars (15-6, 4-3), who play at Scotts Valley in a make-up game tonight at 7pm.
Girls soccer
Scotts Valley 6, at Harbor 0: Junior forward Naiya Samios had two goals and an assist in the Falcons’ SCCAL win Tuesday evening. Freshman forward Lia Lock had a goal and assist.
Senior center midfielder Sami Buer opened the scoring with a penalty kick in the first half. With four minutes remaining in half, Lock took on the outside defender for Harbor and went all the way down the right line with a beautiful cross to Samios for the second goal of the game.
Shortly after, junior outside midfielder Gianna Mandujano sent a gorgeous ball down the line where Lock scored their third goal. The Falcons had a 3-0 lead going into halftime.
Samios scored her second goal coming out of the break, followed by a great corner kick from the right side to freshman forward Skylar Dufour, who scored on a header.
Senior center defender Mari Stone came up from the backfield and scored in the 55th minute to cap the scoring for Scotts Valley.
Goalie Morgan Lipman returned and made multiple saves for the Falcons (5-6-1, 4-2-0), who host Aptos on Thursday at 3:30pm.
Boys soccer
At Harbor 1, Scotts Valley 1: Freshman Bradley Roberson scored in the 78th minute to help the Falcons earn a draw against the Pirates in their SCCAL match Tuesday night.
“We had a hard fought game last night against Harbor,” Scotts Valley coach Adrian Mondragon said. “The boys played great, showed a lot of character and we’re not intimidated one bit. We controlled a majority of the game and put a lot of pressure on the opposing team.”
Senior Brandon Alvarado scored on a penalty kick in the 79th minute to help the Pirates tie the score.
Goalie Alan Aragon made four saves for the Falcons (1-7-2, 0-4-2), who play at Aptos on Thursday at 7pm.
Football
Nolan Smith named to All-State team: Scotts Valley High senior Nolan Smith was named to the Cal-High Sports’ All-State football team for small schools.
Smith, a 6-foot-2-inch, 230-pound linebacker, was recognized on second-team defense. He helped the Falcons to a 9-2 overall record, a 6-0 record to win the Pacific Coast Athletic League Cypress Division title and a trip to the Central Coast Section Division III playoffs.
Smith, who was the PCAL’s Cypress Division co-Defensive Player of the Year with teammate Caden Stratton, finished with 100-plus tackles. Smith was a run-stuffer that helped the Falcons stop their opponents’ interior run game.
Santa Cruz High senior Qwentin Brown, a 5-foot-11 inch, 195-pound running back who is committed to play for Brown University, was honored on the second-team offense. He helped the Cardinals (9-1, 6-0) win the PCAL Mission Division title and advance to the CCS D-II playoffs.
Brown, the Mission Division’s Offensive Player of the Year, scored 19 total touchdowns. He rushed for nearly 1,600 yards on 155 carries and had eight catches for 83 yards.
