The Los Gatos High School girls basketball team went 3-7 in the non-league portion of its schedule, a byproduct of facing a Murders’ Row of powerhouse opponents.
Was coach Sara Quilici Giles worried? Hardly.
Now we know why.
After the slow start, the Wildcats ripped off a 15-game winning streak spanning the regular-season and Central Coast Section playoffs, climaxing in a 42-30 win over Menlo-Atherton in the Division I championship game March 1 at Mission College in Santa Clara.
Los Gatos (19-8) received the No. 12 seed in the CIF State Division II NorCal Tournament and plays at No. 5 seed California of San Ramon on March 4. Quilici Giles also led the Wildcats to a CCS D-I title in 2022 only to see the team go a combined 1-5 in the stacked Open Division the last two years.
That’s what made their latest CCS championship all the more rewarding.
“It’s so special,” Quilici Giles said. “Especially for the seniors, because they won CCS when they were freshmen, and the last two years we’ve been in the Open Division and it’s just been so hard. The Open Division is tough, and you get there as a public school and you’re not expected to win…But to be back in D-I, it felt really good to be back with the public schools and to prove how much better we’ve gotten the last three years.”
The outcome of the Menlo-Atherton game was essentially decided in the first quarter, the Wildcats’ best 8-minute stretch all season. They jumped out to a 15-2 lead and never was seriously threatened the rest of the way.
Sure, M-A did cut the deficit to six points on two occasions in the fourth quarter, but each time Los Gatos answered with a bucket of its own.
“I think in years past maybe if the other team was coming back, we would’ve gotten rattled and let it get to us,” Quilici Giles said. “But I think we took a deep breath and realized, No, we’ve got this. We’re really battle tested and we’ve dealt with a lot of adversity.”
Ashley Childers had 15 points and Rita Zhou scored all 10 of her points in the first half. Nicole Steiner had a tremendous all-around game, finishing with eight points, 10 rebounds and four steals. Childers, a Cornell University-signee, also had four steals.
Zhou had the hot hand early, banking in a 3-pointer and following that up with a layup to close the first quarter. Steiner, a Cal State Fullerton-signee, controlled the paint area with her decisive size advantage. Four of the five Los Gatos starters are seniors and Lola Cuevas—a junior—has been on the varsity squad since her sophomore year.
The veteran group didn’t panic when M-A made things a bit interesting in the second half.
“They’re just so seasoned,” Quilici Giles said. “They’ve been in a lot of close games and they know what they’re capable of. This year we’ve been working on a lot of mental composure.”
Quilici Giles credited the players’ intensity as one of the keys to victory.
“I think our bench energy was absolutely fantastic for the entire game and we really needed it,” she said. “We know, when we have strong starts, we usually win the game.”
Wrestling
The Wildcats’ top two wrestlers medaled in the CIF State Championships March 1 at Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield. Senior Dylan Pile defeated Clovis’ Adrien Reyes 10-3 in the third-place match at 175 pounds. Pile lost a 12-8 decision to Pitman’s Mason Ontiveros in the championship semifinals before rebounding with two convincing victories to secure a third-place finish.
Meanwhile, junior Antonio Rodriguez beat Valencia’s Slater Hicks 5-0 in the fifth-place match at 126 pounds. Rodriguez lost to eventual state champion Isaiah Cortez by a razor-thin score of 4-3 in the championship semifinals, knocking him to the consolation semifinals. A matchup with two-time state champion Ronnie Ramirez resulted in a narrow 4-2 decision defeat, placing Rodriguez in the fifth-place match.
