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Girls Varsity Basketball - As PAL Champions, the Bears were awarded second seed in CCS Division 1, and advanced directly into the quarterfinals on Saturday. There they faced a familiar foe, Carlmont. It was the third meeting between the two teams, with the Bears winning the first 2 games. In the first quarter Naomi Baer and Greer Hoyem combined for 10 points to give M-A a 3 point lead. In the second and third quarters, Carly McLanahan hit 3 three-pointers, but the Scots' defense and three-point shooting kept them in the game. At the end of the third quarter, the Bears were up by 8 points. In the fourth quarter, the Bears low post game got going, with Hoyem scoring 12 of her 22 points. The Bears cruised to a 55-37 victory, advancing to the semifinals on Wednesday, March 4 at 7:30 p.m. against third seed and tournament host, Piedmont Hills.

 

In awards news, Ofa Sili was named this week's Palo Alto Weekly Athlete of the Week. Sally Carlson was named the Lexus Cal-High Sports Student Athlete Volunteer of the Week last week. Sarah Howell received the same award this week. Carlson and Howell are the first M-A students to ever win this award. 

 

 Boys JV Basketball - The Bears finished the PAL season with a perfect 12-0 record (20-4 overall) and captured the league title for the third year in a row. Led by head coach Craig Carson and ably assisted by Harry Finkle and Dan Trautman, the team executed at a consistently high level after a slow start in early December, winning 19 out of its last 20 games. In the pre-season the boys handily beat Menlo, Serra and Valley Christian and were the consolation champs of the Burlingame Tourney.

 

After steam-rolling team after team once league play started, the Bears entered their last week of play at 10-0. For their final game, the Bears traveled to 9-1 Burlingame for what was essentially the championship. The Bears held an 11-8 lead after the first quarter in a fast-paced game, and fairly even play in the second quarter resulted in a half-time lead for M-A, 22-17.  Jordan Mims' powerful rebounds and drives, three-pointers from Jeff Keare and Raymond Fowler, Anders Chiang's rebound for a layup, Will Perrone's post scoring, and Jhavante Hill's skillful harassment of the Burlingame ball-handlers were highlights in the first half. After half-time, Burlingame came out hard and chipped away at the M-A lead, sinking several three-point shots and closing the third quarter with a 36-33 advantage. However, in the fourth period it was all M-A, as the team's defense roared into action, giving up 0 points while adding 14 on offense to end the game with a 47-36 victory. Devon Dundas had several huge rebounds, Kai Winterling sank 2 free throws, and a steal by Winterling followed by Fowler's sweet lay-up ended the game. Keare led the team with 13 points, Perrone contributed 8, Fowler had 6, and Hill and Winterling each chipped in 5 points.

For the last game of the season, the Bears played at home against Woodside. The 5-6 Wildcats threw everything they had into the battle, and the Bears struggled on offense.  Fortunately, the defense was outstanding, with Guiann Lacbayan and Josh Lepulu providing solid relief off the bench, and after 3 quarters, the Bears led 23-19. The tension level in the gym rose considerably when Woodside came out on fire after the break, tied it up at 23 with 5 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, and then pulled ahead by 4 points. The Bears were held scoreless in the fourth quarter until Winterling sank 2 threes in a row to put the Bears ahead with less than 2 minutes to go. In the final seconds, Perrone's clutch free throws iced the game for M-A; the final score was 31-27. Perrone and Winterling led the team in scoring at 10 and 9 points, respectively. Congratulations to all the players on a terrific JV season! 

 

 Boys Varsity Basketball - The Bears concluded their season with a 14-12 record. Their final game was a 43-36 loss to the Milpitas Trojans in the 2nd round of CCS playoffs (Milpitas went on to beat #3 Sequoia in the CCS quarterfinals). M-A started slowly with only 12 points at halftime, but found itself only 8 points down due to solid defense as shown all year. In the third quarter, M-A picked up the intensity and quickly rallied to take a 1-point lead midway through that quarter. Going into the final quarter, the Bears were only 1 point down. After a 17 point 3rd quarter, the Bears could only muster 7 points in the 4th quarter, and the Trojans pulled away to win. Ryan Cole, who was selected a PAL South First Team all-star, led the Bears scoring with 13 points. The Bears would like to thank the ever-supportive 6th-man club who came out in large numbers all season, including the final home game on a school night. Also to be thanked are the coaches, Mike Molieri, Adhir Ravipati, Nick Fogel, Jon Boone, Rich Branning for their tireless dedication to the boys. Finally, the team bids a fond farewell and appreciation to the seniors and captains, Ryan Cole, Whittaker Jellins, and Danny LaPorte for their outstanding leadership and exemplary character.

 Girls JV Soccer - With all games now completed by all schools, the PAL league standings settled out with M-A finishing in 2nd place with a respectable record of 11-2-1 (W-L-D), just 1 point behind top place finisher Woodside. Well done Bears!

 

Girls Varsity Soccer - The 7th seeded Bears started slow, but finished strong to defeat the 10th seeded Alisal Trojans by a final score of 4-0 in the first round of Division I CCS playoffs. In the 4th minute, the speed of Annie Harrier enabled her to race down the right wing and beat the defender to get a cross off to Katie Guenin, who scored the first of her 3 goals on the night. It appeared that M-A had scored a second goal in the 31st minute when Taryn Harpell headed in a free kick from Kelsey Reed, but it was called back for offsides. M-A goalkeeper Jacqueline Foody was forced to make two saves in the first half, but kept her score sheet clean. In the second half, Harpell got her head on a corner kick and the ball found its way to Guenin who volleyed the ball in for her second goal in the 51st minute to put M-A up 2-0. Just a few minutes later, it appeared that M-A had scored again when Talia Missan passed a ball to Guenin, but again the goal was called back for offsides. Guenin found the net again in the 64th minute to record a hat trick after she received a ball from the middle and took it down the right side, pounding it in to give M-A a 3-0 lead. The fourth and final goal of the evening came when Reed fed Grace Brieger, who then found Miranda Simes on the left wing. Simes took the ball and hammered it in from the left side for a 4-0 final score.

The victory over Alisal sent M-A to the CCS quarterfinals to take on host and #2 seed Palo Alto on Saturday. Though Palo Alto dominated the stat sheet in the first half, out-shooting the Bears 6-0 and forcing 4 saves from Foody, M-A managed to keep the Vikings from scoring for most of the half. Just a minute before halftime, Palo Alto dribbled through the middle of the field, cut right, and took a shot from 30 yards out that snuck just inside the left post past the outstretched hands of Foody. In the second half the Bears turned up the pressure and managed to get off 4 shots to the Vikings 5. The second half also included a more physical battle with the referee handing out a total of 4 yellow cards - 3 for M-A and 1 for Paly. Despite the intensity, the score remained 1-0 in favor of the Vikings, and Paly walked away with the win while the Bears saw its season come to an end. M-A finished 7-4-3 in league and 11-6-4 overall. 

 

 Boys Varsity Soccer - The Bears beat Alvarez (Salinas) in the CCS quarterfinals at Palo Alto 4-1 on Saturday. Alex Gallo scored the first goal from outside the 18 yard box with a no bounce volley over the goalie's head. In the second half, Gallo kicked a bullet of a free kick to Jesus Ortega, who scored the second goal. Kyle Smith beat the goalie for a third goal. The last goal for M-A was scored by Juan Gastelum, as he casually dribbled past the goalie. The Alvarez Eagles rallied back for one goal but the game was over. The Bears play Bellarmine in the semifinals on Wednesday, March 4 (time and location still to be determined.

 

 Varsity Softball - The softball season started this week with 2 non- league games. On Wednesday, the Bears traveled to San Jose High, where they won the game 12-2 in 6 innings. The Bears dominated offensively, getting hits from all spots in the order. The offense was led by Yesenia Garcia, who had 2 triples, Monika Gutierrez with a triple and a single, co-captain Emily Katz and Molly Katz, each with 2 singles. Brianna Martinez, Yasmine Pope, Erin White, Maddie Zamora and Georgette Libuano all had singles. Defensively, the Bears played a great game. Pitcher E. Katz allowed only 4 hits, while striking out 12 and walking none. The Bears made only 1 error in an almost perfect defensive game. 

 

On Friday, the Bears hosted Gunderson, winning 11-6. In the fourth inning, the Bears combined 5 hits, 2 walks and 2 errors by Gunderson to score 8 runs, breaking the game wide open. The offensive contributors in the game were Sarah Tiemann with a double, E. Katz and Sarah Scandalios with 2 singles each, and Gutierrez, M. Katz, Garcia, and Zamora each with a single. E. Katz had 10 strikeouts, but Gunderson was able to capitalize on 6 walks and only 4 hits to score their 6 runs. The Bears played a tight defensive game, with assists made by all 6 infield players (Gutierrez, Garcia, Scandalios, Martinez, M. Katz and E. Katz) and only one error.  The Bears travel to Palo Alto on Tuesday, March 3, host Mercy on Thursday, March 5, and travel to Castilleja on Friday, March 6. 

 

 Varsity Baseball - The Bears got off to a great start as they beat Woodside 13-3 in 7 innings on Monday at Woodside. The Bears scored 9 runs in the seventh on RBI singles by Kennedy Ojeda, Evan Easton, Nick Prainito and Tyler Koo. There were a couple of huge doubles by Daniel Kollar-Gasiewski and Matthew McGarry. AJ Lemons was the starting pitcher and got off to a good start, allowing 3 runs on 4 hits with 3 strikeouts. Nick Olson got the win in relief for the Bears. Nick pitched only 1- 1/3 innings and allowed 1 hit, 3 strikeouts and no runs. The top of the first saw M-A take an early lead, on a 2-run home run by McGarry, bringing home Kollar-Gasiewski. In the second, the Bears scored on a groundout by Nikolai Tarran, plating Brian Coggins. Then pinch runner Matt Johnston scored a run in the fifth on a passed ball while Evan Easton was up to bat.

 

McGarry started the game at home against Menlo on Wednesday and pitched 3.2 innings; he had 3 earned runs on 4 hits with 6 strikeouts. Cameron Malloy came in and got the final strikeout to end the fourth inning and then threw 2 great innings of 3 straight outs. The Bears were ahead 5-4 until the seventh inning when Menlo grabbed the lead, scoring 9 runs on 4 singles to pull away for a 13-5 victory. The Bears started out strong on offense with a 4-run inning in the bottom of the first. The hits started with a big double by Easton who was plated on an RBI double by Kollar-Gasiewski and an RBI single by Bret Rodrigues.

 

On Thursday the Bears traveled to Mountain View for their third game of the week. Kodiak Conrad started the game and threw 13 K's over 7 scoreless innings, but it wasn't enough for the win. The Bears fell to Mountain View 1-0 in the bottom of the eighth after a couple of early pre-season errors gave the Mountain View team the lone run to take the game. Offense was pretty slow as M-A had only 3 hits all day (singles by Max Gardiner, Nikolai Tarran and Kennedy Ojeda). 

 

 Boys Varsity Tennis - The defending PAL champion and last year's CCS semi-finalist Bears begin their season this week. They are the overwhelming favorites to win the PAL title for a 7th straight year. The team is captained by seniors Alex Iyer, Danny LaPorte, and Zach Novak. On Monday, March 2 at 3:30 p.m., M-A hosts Serra in a pre-season match. The PAL season begins Tuesday, March 3 at 4 p.m. when M-A travels to Hillsdale. This coming weekend, M-A will compete in the top division of the annual California Tennis Classic in Fresno. The Bears are scheduled to begin against Tamalpais at the Copper River Country Club in the first of 4 matches.