Hawks beat Pacific Collegiate, Oakwood School on Friday
SANTA CRUZ
The Anzar High girls basketball team – well, program – delivered a rare feat Friday that few teams, if any, have accomplished.
Two league wins in two different locations, all in a single day.
“Today was quite an event,” Anzar head coach Aaron Netzel said.
Dealt with an unfortunate scheduling conflict where the Hawks were forced to play a pair of Coastal Athletic League games on Friday – one game at Pacific Collegiate in Santa Cruz, another at Oakwood School in Morgan Hill – Anzar pulled off the improbable.
One team – made up of Allison Baker, Carly Johnson, Sydnee Masuen, Nicole Mello, Liliana Resendez, Kelsey Robledo and Alyssa Rodriguez – traveled to Santa Cruz and avenged a loss from earlier this season when they defeated Pacific Collegiate 41-34.
The other team – comprised of Marley Martinez-Stokes, Gabriela Medina, Jacqueline and Vanessa Quaresma, Shelby Sorensen, Katie Teresi and Michelle Terrano – went up to Morgan Hill and defeated Oakwood School 44-6.
“Both sets of girls stepping up,” Netzel said. “I’m incredibly proud of the effort. I’m incredibly proud of the whole basketball program.”
The doubleheader of sorts came about after Anzar was originally scheduled to play Pacific Collegiate, and only Pacific Collegiate, on Friday. But after a game against Oakwood from earlier this season was postponed, the two teams had extreme difficulty finding an exact day to play their rescheduled game, eventually leading to the dual contests on Friday.
With the CAL title up for grabs, Netzel made every effort in order to play both teams and not suffer a forfeit. And at this late stage in the season, two games played by two different teams all in the same day was, believe it or not, the best option.
And in the end, it led to two league wins on Friday.
Junior varsity coach Mike Bonomi manned the game at Oakwood, where Anzar held the Morgan Hill school to zero points in the first half.
And although Oakwood has yet to record a victory in the CAL, Bonomi said he wasn’t going into the game overconfident.
“I was still worried,” he said. “I was very confident for them, but I was nervous. And I didn’t tell them that.”
Bonomi only had three practices with his team going into Oakwood, but it certainly paid off.
Gabriela Medina outscored Oakwood all by herself when she dropped 22 points, including a 4 of 5 performance from behind the arc, while teammate Michelle Terrano had 10 points and five steals in the win.
Oakwood finally got on the scoreboard in the third quarter, but the Hawks, which had a 20-point lead at halftime, countered with 17 points in the third period alone.
“They blew it open in the third quarter. The third quarter was the monster,” Bonomi said.
Meanwhile in Santa Cruz, Anzar’s other varsity team was battling one-loss PCS, which had previously defeated the Hawks 43-41 on Jan. 16, for first place in the CAL.
“I told the girls,” Netzel said, “that all the pressure was on them, and we played loose and free pretty much the whole game.
“There were a lot of emotions, but they never played tight and I think that was the difference in the game.”
Noted for their intense up-and-down style of play, the Hawks instead employed a slower tempo to their offense, and it proved to be beneficial.
Anzar held a slim 23-22 lead heading into the final period, but the Pumas got into foul trouble and the Hawks pulled away as a result, outscoring Pacific Collegiate 18-12 in the fourth quarter.
Nicole Mello led Anzar with 10 points and eight rebounds, Alyssa Rodriguez had nine points and five rebounds, and Liliana Resendez came in with eight points behind a pair of 3-pointers.
“We won and we were elated,” Netzel said. “And minutes after we were getting a phone call that the other team won 44-6.”
The Hawks now hold a commanding lead on first place in the CAL at 7-1. Anzar has four games remaining – at home to Oakwood and Kirby, and on the road at Marina and York – but none of the four teams boast winning records.
Pacific Collegiate, at 7-2 in the CAL, has three games remaining against Kirby, Marina and Anchorpoint, which previously defeated the Santa Cruz school 41-32 on Jan. 20.
Anzar, meanwhile, will host Kirby Wednesday in San Juan Bautista at 6 p.m.
“The league is not over,” Netzel said, “but it looks pretty good.”
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
ANZ 4 10 9 18 41
PCS 6 4 12 12 34
Anzar (41): N. Mello 2 0 6-16 10, A. Rodriguez 1 1 4-4 9, L. Resendez 1 2 0-0 8, A. Baker 1 0 0-0 2, K. Robledo 3 0 0-0 6, S. Masuen 1 0 1-2 3, C. Johnson 0 1 0-0 3.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
ANZ 6 14 17 7 44
OAK 0 0 2 4 6
Anzar (44): M. Terrano 2 2 0-0 10, V. Quaresma 1 0 0-0 2, S. Sorensen 1 0 0-0 2, G. Medina 5 4 0-2 22, J. Quaresma 1 0 0-0 2, M. Martinez-Stokes 3 0 0-0 6.
