SHP Hoops Run and Gun to CCS Crown
Sacred Heart Prep 55, Notre Dame-Belmont 35
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Returning to the Leavey Center for the second straight year, top-seed SHP (16-10) used its up-tempo transition attack to take apart West Bay Athletic League rival Notre Dame-Belmont 55-35.
“We were just on tonight,” Murphy said. “Notre Dame-Belmont is a really good team. They’ve played us twice (in the regular season) and we’ve split with them. So we knew we were going to have a battle. But our shots fell the way we wanted them to.”
No. 2-seeded NDB got the game-high scorer with freshman Alaiyah San Juan’s 13 points, but had little else to boast on offense. Entering the half trailing 21-14, the Tigers shot just 22.2 percent from the field in the second half.
“Their size gives us all kinds of problems,” NDB head coach Josh Davenport said. “We never had a clean look inside. We never had a really clean look from the outside. Their length — they’re taller than us at every position — so, you have to make a few shots to soften them up early in the game or it’s a struggle like it was the whole way.”
SHP used its shutdown defense to slingshot its fast-break attack, finding an array of targets to convert at the other end. Nine different Gators scored in the contest, with just two touching double-figures as junior forward Zoe Zaharias and freshman center Megan Norris shared the team-high with 10 points apiece.
Sophomore guard Charlotte Levison added eight points, senior guard Grace Battles had seven and senior forward Tatum Angotti totaled six. It has been this kind of balanced effort that spurred SHP’s postseason resurgence after finishing in a fourth-place tie in the WBAL Foothill Division, one game ahead of last-place NDB.
“I think with our motion offense, a lot of different people get opportunities,” Murphy said. “I think we did a really good job running the floor today, getting out in transition.”
SHP pushed its lead to double digits at the start of the second half — and kept it that way to the closing buzzer — on a swift transition score as sophomore point guard Denise Stine finished the break with a balanced underhand layup. Stine then stifled NDB’s ensuing possession with a steal and bolted to the basket, converting while drawing a foul but missing the and-1 attempt.
NDB then missed a shot at its end and Angotti showed her versatility as the 6-1 senior grabbed a rebound, then drove coast-to-coast to finish the Gators’ 7-0 run to start the second half. SHP was 8 of 11 from the field in the quarter.
“We gave up more layups today … than we have over the course of three or four games combined,” Davenport said. “Again, credit to them because they exploited us, especially in transition.”
NDB center Olga Faasolo added nine points. The senior was integral to returning the Tigers to the CCS championship game for the first time since 2015. She only played half of last season due to an ACL injury, and was running at about 50 percent in the games she did play, according to Davenport.
The title for the Gators marks the 14th in program history and the second in the career of Murphy. After winning the Division IV crown in 2015, SHP reached the finals again last year but lost to Half Moon Bay.
“It hasn’t hit me yet,” Zaharias said of the title. “But it’s starting to feel real. It’s just amazing to get this second one with the team.”
SHP now moves up to Division III in the CIF Northern California playoffs. The No. 8 Gators host No. 9 Campolindo-Moraga Wednesday at 7 p.m.
NDB earned the No. 2 seed in Nor Cal Division IV. The Tigers will host No. 15 Alhambra-Martinez Wednesday at 7 p.m. With Davenport set to step down as NDB’s coach at the end of the season, any game could now be his last.
“I think we can go make some noise,” Davenport said. “It’s just a matter of how we bounce back from today. We will shoot better in the next game. … We are unlikely to play a team that has the kind of length Sacred Heart Prep has.”
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SANTA CLARA — Sacred Heart Prep’s last Central Coast Section championship in 2016 came via a 1-point thriller. This time around, the Gators took it much easier on the heart of head coach Melanie Murphy.
Returning to the Leavey Center for the second straight year, top-seed SHP (16-10) used its up-tempo transition attack to take apart West Bay Athletic League rival Notre Dame-Belmont 55-35.
“We were just on tonight,” Murphy said. “Notre Dame-Belmont is a really good team. They’ve played us twice (in the regular season) and we’ve split with them. So we knew we were going to have a battle. But our shots fell the way we wanted them to.”
No. 2-seeded NDB got the game-high scorer with freshman Alaiyah San Juan’s 13 points, but had little else to boast on offense. Entering the half trailing 21-14, the Tigers shot just 22.2 percent from the field in the second half.
“Their size gives us all kinds of problems,” NDB head coach Josh Davenport said. “We never had a clean look inside. We never had a really clean look from the outside. Their length — they’re taller than us at every position — so, you have to make a few shots to soften them up early in the game or it’s a struggle like it was the whole way.”
SHP used its shutdown defense to slingshot its fast-break attack, finding an array of targets to convert at the other end. Nine different Gators scored in the contest, with just two touching double-figures as junior forward Zoe Zaharias and freshman center Megan Norris shared the team-high with 10 points apiece.
Sophomore guard Charlotte Levison added eight points, senior guard Grace Battles had seven and senior forward Tatum Angotti totaled six. It has been this kind of balanced effort that spurred SHP’s postseason resurgence after finishing in a fourth-place tie in the WBAL Foothill Division, one game ahead of last-place NDB.
“I think with our motion offense, a lot of different people get opportunities,” Murphy said. “I think we did a really good job running the floor today, getting out in transition.”
SHP pushed its lead to double digits at the start of the second half — and kept it that way to the closing buzzer — on a swift transition score as sophomore point guard Denise Stine finished the break with a balanced underhand layup. Stine then stifled NDB’s ensuing possession with a steal and bolted to the basket, converting while drawing a foul but missing the and-1 attempt.
NDB then missed a shot at its end and Angotti showed her versatility as the 6-1 senior grabbed a rebound, then drove coast-to-coast to finish the Gators’ 7-0 run to start the second half. SHP was 8 of 11 from the field in the quarter.
“We gave up more layups today … than we have over the course of three or four games combined,” Davenport said. “Again, credit to them because they exploited us, especially in transition.”
NDB center Olga Faasolo added nine points. The senior was integral to returning the Tigers to the CCS championship game for the first time since 2015. She only played half of last season due to an ACL injury, and was running at about 50 percent in the games she did play, according to Davenport.
The title for the Gators marks the 14th in program history and the second in the career of Murphy. After winning the Division IV crown in 2015, SHP reached the finals again last year but lost to Half Moon Bay.
“It hasn’t hit me yet,” Zaharias said of the title. “But it’s starting to feel real. It’s just amazing to get this second one with the team.”
SHP now moves up to Division III in the CIF Northern California playoffs. The No. 8 Gators host No. 9 Campolindo-Moraga Wednesday at 7 p.m.
NDB earned the No. 2 seed in Nor Cal Division IV. The Tigers will host No. 15 Alhambra-Martinez Wednesday at 7 p.m. With Davenport set to step down as NDB’s coach at the end of the season, any game could now be his last.
“I think we can go make some noise,” Davenport said. “It’s just a matter of how we bounce back from today. We will shoot better in the next game. … We are unlikely to play a team that has the kind of length Sacred Heart Prep has.”
Sacred Heart Schools Atherton
Founded by the Society of the Sacred Heart, SHS is a Catholic, independent, co-ed day school for students in preschool through grade 12
