GIRLS BASKETBALL: Scotts Valley Edged By Notre Dame-Belmont in CCS Finals

Notre Dame-Belmont 33, Scotts Valley 29

The Star: Scotts Valley freshman Nadene Hart. On the biggest stage off the season, the Scotts Valley team came out a little tentative early. Both teams were a little jittery, everyone except Hart. The 6-foot post player scored four of her teams six points in the first quarter and led her team with eight points in the first half. Three of her four field goals came from outside of her comfort zone inside the paint. Hart buried the first three shots she took, including a pair of face-up jumpers, in the Central Coast Section Division IV Girls Basketball Championship game Friday afternoon at Santa Clara University.

Notre Dame-Belmont senior post Emily Morris scored a game-high 15 points in the Tigers win. Her two free throw makes with 1.2 left on the clock iced the championship win.

The Turning Point: Despite turning the basketball over 22 times in the first half, Scotts Valley only trailed by six (18-12) at the half. The Falcons smothered their opponent in the third, holding the Tigers to only two points in the quarter. A Tori McBride 3-pointer with 25 seconds left in the third evened the score at 20. Scotts Valley took its first lead since way back in the first quarter midway through the final eight minutes of action. Senior Liz Munger, who was held scoreless in the first half, scooped in two of her eight points to give Scotts Valley a 29-28 lead with just under a minute left in regulation.

A clutch 3-pointer by senior captain Katie Flaherty put ND-Belmont back on top by two points with a little over seven seconds to go. Scotts Valley head coach Jim Hart said afterwards that he drew up a play to get his team a 3-point shot for the win. ND-Belmont guarded the line and forced the Falcons to drive. A runner off glass and a quick put back couldn’t stay home to force overtime, giving the No. 2 seed a dramatic four-point win.

The Quotes:  “I think there was some nerves early,” Scotts Valley head coach Jim Hart said after the loss. “We played the game at their pace. We didn’t get a chance to get out and run.”

 Coach Hart still felt his team, the No. 1 seed in the Division IV draw, was going to come away with the narrow triumph.

 “I drew up a play to get us a 3-pointer,” Hart said. “I didn’t want to go into overtime. They pushed us off the line, but we still got two good looks at the basket.”

 The season isn’t over yet for the Falcons. Postseason play continues next week in NorCals.

 “It’s a bummer that the last two shots we got didn’t go in,” Scotts Valley junior forward Natalia Ebrahimian said. “They were up on us the whole time. We needed to pick it up and we did in the third quarter.”

 Scotts Valley will be back on the practice court tomorrow.

 “The loss will push us to play even harder,” Ebrahimian said. “We want to go in full force into our next game.”

 What's Next? Scotts Valley will play on Tuesday night in a first round California Interscholastic Federation Northern California playoff game. The state tourney brackets will be announced on Sunday night. Because of the second place finish, Scotts Valley will most likely open tournament play on the road.

Bottom Line: Munger and Ebrahimian was both held scoreless in the first half. The duo combined for 14 second half points, settling down and attacking the rim in the final 16 minutes. The game resembled a West Catholic League regular season matchup. ND-Belmont’s stingy defense stifled the run-and-gun offense of the Falcons. However, if not for a ill-timed 3-pointer, Scotts Valley would have still walked away with its first CCS girls basketball crown in school history.

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Notre Dame 33, Scotts Valley 29

ND – 7 11 2 13 – 33

SV – 6 6 8 9 – 29

ND: Brazil 2 1-2 6, Dames 1 1-2 3, Flaherty 2 0-0 6, Morris 5 5-6 15, White 1 0-0 3. Totals: 11 7-10 33.

SV: Silver 0 0-2 0, McBride 1 2-2 5, Munger 3 1-2 8, Ebrahimian 3 0-2 6, Hart 4 0-0 8, Guidice-Murphy 1 0-0 2, Whitney 0 0-1 0. Totals: 12 3-9 29.

3-point goals: ND: Flaherty 2, Brazil, White. SV: McBride, Munger.

Records: Notre Dame 14-14. Scotts Valley 22-6.v