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Sports

GIRLS BASKETBALL: Santa Cruz Can't Slow Down Scotts Valley

Falcons cap off perfect 12-0 run in SCCAL play with win over Santa Cruz High Tuesday night.

Scotts Valley 73, Santa Cruz  60

The Star: Ashley Claussen scored a game-high 23 points, but it wasn’t enough to topple the high-powered Scotts Valley attack. Junior Pauli Pappas added 14 points as Santa Cruz (17-6, 8-3 SCCAL) played the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League’s best team to a 31-all tie in the first half.

The Turning Point: All tied up at 31 at the half, the Scotts Valley (20-4, 12-0) transition offense took over in the second half. Freshman point guard Tori McBride pushed the pace--the floor general scored 12 points on the night--helping Scotts Valley rattle off 15 points in the third quarter. The faster pace led to easy buckets down low from Liz Munger, Natalia Ebrahimian, Nadine Hart and Angela Silver. Silver scored 13 points in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League regular season finale for the Falcons.

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The Quote: "They (Santa Cruz) shot the ball really well in the first half." —Scotts Valley head coach Jim Hart said about the evenly-played first half between the two league rivals. “We just felt like we could get better shots if we pushed the ball in the second half. Our transition offense really kicked in and we were able to score 25 points in the third quarter.”

What's Next? Santa Cruz gets another stiff league test Friday night, squaring off against second place Soquel High. The Knights edged past the Cardinals for a 58-55 win in the schools first meeting last month. Tip-off is set for 5:30 pm Friday at Soquel.

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Bottom Line: It was a gritty effort by the host Cardinals in the games early goings, but the overall depth and size of the Falcons eventually took over in the second half. With a pivotal game against Soquel coming up in a few days, the road doesn’t get any easier for Santa Cruz. The winner of that game will finish in second place in league heading into next weeks SCCAL league tournament. The second place finisher receives a bye in round one of the SCCAL league tourney. Round one play begins on Tuesday night. The semifinals will take place on Thursday night at Scotts Valley High.

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