Los Gatos junior center Matt Swanson looks for someone to pass to against Los Gatos. Swanson had six points, including a couple of dunks, in the 58-38 win over the Eagles.

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Beritzhoff leads girls to wins

Los Gatos, Leigh boys roll to victories

By Dick Sparrer

Michelle Beritzhoff started out the school year running. And she hasn't stopped yet.

Beritzhoff was a talented member of the girls cross country team last fall, running to top honors as just a sophomore for the Wildcats. And now she's running up and down the basketball court for the Cats, leading Gatos to victories.

Bertizhoff ran up 33 points in two games last week to lead Los Gatos to wins over Milpitas 58-37 and Saratoga 56-43 in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

The 5-foot-10 sophomore pitched in 18 points to spark Gatos to the 21-point win over the Trojans. She bagged eight buckets from the field and added two points at the free-throw line.

Nancy Shishido, Kristin Ozawa and Brett Sickler tossed in nine points each in the game. Cristen McClenathan added eight points, Julia Pugliese hit three, and Stephanie Anderson had two. Shishido popped a three-pointer for the Cats.

Los Gatos trailed 14-12 at the first buzzer, but the Wildcats whipped the Trojans 19-7 in the second quarter to take a 31-21 lead by intermission. Gatos bombed Milpitas 20-8 in the third period to take command of the game.

Beritzhoff came back with 15 points to lead the Wildcats to the 56-43 win over Saratoga later in the week. Beritzhoff jammed in four field goals and added seven free throws to account for her 15 points.

Shishido canned a pair of threes on her way to 11 points, and McClenathan joined the others in double digits with 10 points.

Ozawa added nine points, including a three, Sickler hit six, Anderson and Erin Cook two apiece and Pugliese one.

Los Gatos jumped out to a 21-10 lead in the first period, but the Falcons fought back to cut the lead to one by the half, 28-27. The Cats topped the Falcons 15-7 in the third and 13-9 in the fourth, though, to claim the easy win.

Gatos boys win

The Los Gatos boys team opened the league season with a win last week, beating Los Altos 58-38 in the De Anza Division of the SCVAL.

A healthy Matt Gingery jammed 22 points, and Beau Knight supported with 12 to lead the Wildcats to the 20-point win over the Eagles.

Gingery, a talented 6-foot-6 all-league returner for the Cats, popped four threes among his seven field goals and added four free throws to lead all LG scorers.

"He's starting to get back into shape," said Marino of Gingery, who missed much of the preseason with an ankle sprain. The senior had five rebounds to go with his 22 points, and he came through with a dunk off of an inbound lob from Knight.

Knight, a 6-foot-4 comeback all-leaguer, tossed in five buckets and two free throws in the win. He led the club with eight rebounds and starred defensively, according to Marino. "He's just a real competitor," said Marino of Knight.

Matt Swanson added six points in the win, including a couple of dunks. Chris McMorrow and Ben Kane hit five points apiece, and Trent Edwards and Alex Holcomb had four points each. Kane and Holcomb each popped three-pointers.

The coach praised the work of his youngest varsity players. "We have two sophomores up," said Marino of Edwards and McMorrow, "and they've contributed positively every game."

Kane and Edwards shared the team lead in assists with four apiece.

"We needed to get a win," said Marino. "But it was kind of scary because we were down 8-0 in the beginning."

Los Altos led by a point after a period, 14-13, but the Cats fought back to lead 26-24 at intermission. "We were up by two at the half, but in the third and fourth we kind of put it together," said the coach. "We dominated the game in the second half."

Gatos crushed Los Altos 14-5 in the third and 18-9 in the fourth to cruise to the win.

The Wildcats will be back on the court this week to host Wilcox on Jan. 11, 7 p.m., and visit Santa Clara on Jan. 13, 7 p.m.

Kreuzer returns

Veteran head coach Roger Smith expects Leigh to contend for the title in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League this season.

And the Longhorns got off to a good start in pursuit of that goal last week when they opened the league season with a convincing 56-43 victory over Piedmont Hills.

Bolstered by the return of Josh Kreuzer, the Longhorns outscored Piedmont in every period but the third on the road to the 13-point win.

Kreuzer, a powerful 6-foot-5 senior center, was sidelined with a shoulder injury for all of the preseason, but he returned to the floor against Piedmont Hills to provide some scoring and give the Longhorns some much-needed board strength.

Antwon Guidry continued to lead Leigh in the scoring department with 23 points in the win. The 6-foot-0 junior netted five three-pointers among his seven field goals, and he added four points at the free-throw line to lead all Leigh scorers.

Kreuzer, Keith Miyakusu and Byron Taplin supported with eight points each in the win. Darren Fujikawa hit a three-pointer, and Kevin Cardenas, Kevin Rawson and Derek Marquardt added two points each.

Schlief leads Leigh

The Leigh girls, meanwhile, lost a pair of games in the first week of play in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the BVAL.

Kimberly Schlief bombed 17 points, but Leigh lost 65-36 to Oak Grove to open the league season. Schlief came back with 18 points later in the week, but the Longhorns lost a 51-48 heartbreaker to Presentation.

The Longhorns are now 7-6 for the year but 0-2 in division play.

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