Saratoga News
Sports
Two tough losses knock Saratoga girls out of first
By Dick Sparrer
It hasn't exactly been a collapse, the girls basketball team at Saratoga High School continued to stumble a little last week in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.
The Falcons had jumped out to a 7-1 start in the league race and were riding a six-game winning streak when they had head first into Lynbrook and dropped a 39-27 decision. They followed that up with a 47-42 loss to Monta Vista in their only game last week, and now the Falcons head into the final week of the regular season with a 7-3 division mark and an 18-6 record overall.
The loss to the Matadors knocked Saratoga out of a first-place tie in the division. Homestead and Lynbrook enter the final week of league play with matching 8-2 records, and the Falcons are third with their 7-3 mark.
To get a piece of the crown in the division, the Falcons have to win both of their games, and hope for a little help from somebody else. Saratoga will visit Los Altos (6-5) on Feb. 14, 7 p.m., before wrapping up league play at home against Santa Clara (3-7) on Feb. 16, 6:15 p.m.
The Mustangs and the Vikings will collide at Homestead on Feb. 14, so one of the two clubs will certainly get tagged with a third league loss. Saratoga will then have to hope for the Wednesday winner to lose on Friday to create a three-way tie for first. Homestead will finish up at Monta Vista (4-6) on Friday while the Vikings host Cupertino (0-10).
The Saratoga boys, meanwhile, will try to finish up with a .500 league record after a tough 50-38 loss to Palo Alto last week. The Falcons are 4-6 in the division and 15-9 overall heading into games at Gunn on Feb. 13, 7 p.m., and at home against Milpitas on Feb. 16, 7:45 p.m.
Saratoga actually jumped out to a one-point halftime lead against Palo Alto (7-2) last week before getting outscored 16-4 in the third quarter.
The Falcons trailed Paly 12-10 after a period but outscored the Vikings 12-9 in the second to lead 22-21 at intermission. But Palo Alto took control of the game in the second half to win by 12.
Keon Ghafouri tossed in 18 points, including two three-pointers, to lead the Falcons. Andy Capek had a three among his six points and Steven Walker added six. Chris Chiou added four points, Edmund Ye had three and Kourash Agahdel hit one.
For the girls, it was Jessica Bramlett with the hot hand, but the Falcons ended up losing by five to the Matadors. Bramlett had 13 points, including three threes, to lead Saratoga. Vanessa Guzman tossed in nine points, Alex Sclavos eight, Lisa Ruddy seven, Erica Baba three and Melissa Lin two. Baba and Ruddy each drilled threes.
Saratoga was down 14-9 at the first buzzer, but outscored Monta Vista 10-2 in the second and 13-8 in the third to take an eight-point lead into the fourth, 32-24. But the Mats topped the Falcons 23-10 in the final stanza to pull out the upset win.
