Girls Varsity Basketball - The Bears cruised to two easy PAL victories this week and improved to 3rd in Friday's Daily News ranking. On Wednesday, the Bears defeated San Mateo 54-28 at M-A. In a first quarter where M-A had trouble sinking baskets, Carly McLanahan gave the Bears a lift when she hit the first of her 3 three-pointers in the closing moments. In the second quarter, Megan Sparrow led a Bears defense lock-down, while Naomi Baer had 8 of her 10 points, increasing the M-A lead to 14. In the third quarter Greer Hoyem had 7 of her 13 points to push the M-A lead to 25. Nine Bears scored on the night.

On Friday at Carlmont, the team won 55-37. Hoyem and Ilana Baer (who led M-A in scoring with 12 each), combined for 11 first quarter points as the Bears took a 15-7 lead. In the second quarter, the Bears welcomed back their leading scorer, Ofa Sili, who missed the prior 5 games with an injury. Sili immediately scored and the Bears blew the game open with a 15-0 run later in the second quarter. The Scots upped their intensity in the second half to close the gap a bit, but Annalisa Crowe made a three-pointer and Carolyn Watson added a bucket to put the game away. On Wednesday, February 4 at 5:30 p.m. the Bears travel to face PAL South co-leader Hillsdale for the most anticipated league game of the year. On Friday, February 6 the team returns to M-A to host Sequoia at 6:15 p.m. 

Girls Varsity Soccer - The Bears had a rough week, losing two tough PAL matches to league leader Woodside (1-4) on Tuesday and second-place Burlingame (1-2) on Thursday. M-A fell to undefeated Woodside, but spent the first 34 minutes with the teams battling for possession with an even split. The Bears had a few early chances, but could not capitalize and then it was Woodside with two quick goals in the last 5 minutes of the first half. In the second half, the Bears fought hard and managed to get off 6 shots, including two great chances when Carolyn Hunt-Gonzalez hit one over the top from just in front of the goal in the 48th minute and another when a free kick from Taryn Harpell hit the crossbar in the 58th minute. Annie Harrier was fouled from behind in the box, setting up a penalty kick. Harpell calmly placed the ball in the left corner of the net and caught the Woodside keeper diving to the opposite side. However, Woodside netted two more goals in the second half to take the victory 4-1.

On Thursday afternoon, the Bears took on the Burlingame Panthers. Unfortunately, Burlingame scored 2 goals in a 5-minute stretch to put the Bears down 2-0 midway through the first half. The Bears fought to get back into the game; Julia Moreton scored for the Bears in the 24th minute when she was able to take advantage of a deflection after a Panther defender miss-cleared the ball. Keeper Jacqueline Foody had 4 saves in the first half, though the shot tally at the half was fairly even at 7-6 in favor of the Panthers. In the second half, the Bears outshot the Panthers 8-1, but still could not find the back of the next. Foody made a spectacular save to keep the Panthers off the board in the second half. Sarah McLeod, playing limited minutes due to illness, gave the Bears their best scoring chance late in the second half, but the final score remained 2-1 Burlingame. With the loss, M-A drops to 3-3-2 in PAL and 6-4-3 overall. M-A faces San Mateo on Tuesday, February 3 at 4 p.m. at home and then travels to Half Moon Bay on Thursday, February 5 at 4 p.m.