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The Palo Alto girls’ basketball team, despite an overall poor shooting night, rallied from 15 points down to make a game of it midway through the fourth quarter.
A home crowd would have made a big difference, but under the circumstances, playing in an empty gym is the new reality.
Paly tried creating its own momentum, and succeeded for half the fourth quarter, but it was unsustainable and visiting Los Altos walked away with a 53-48 Santa Clara Valley Athletic League victory.
Eagles’ senior Jamie Baum scored a game-high 24 points and was surprised by her teammates afterward, celebrating her surpassing 1,000 points for her career.
Palo Alto (1-2, 0-2) was playing its third game in four days and was coming off a nice win at St. Francis the previous night.
Los Altos grabbed the lead early and never surrendered it, though the Vikings pulled within five at 40-35 with 5:12 remaining to play.
An electrifying pass from Kaella Peters to Jessica Riske, who threaded the paint for a layup to bring Paly within five, would have lit up the student section and possibly ignite a winning rally.
Instead, Los Altos regrouped and pushed the lead back up to 10.
There was a series of outstanding plays during those first few minutes of the final period. The Vikings grabbed five offensive boards in that time, directly leading to six second-chance points.
Elif Turgut and Carly Martin hit key baskets during the run. The rebounding trio of Martin, Turgut and Riske combined for 22 of Paly’s 28 rebounds.
Peters, Turgit and Martin each scored 12 points. Peters was 4-of-8 from the field, all 3-point attempts.
In the end, a little fatigue, a lack of a crowd and missed shots proved too much to overcome.
In the El Camino Division, Gunn dropped its home opener to Fremont, 38-35, despite 22 points from team captain Mollie Kuelker and 13 points from Carmel Tong.
Boys basketball
Aidan Braccia scored 29 points to help Sacred Heart Prep beat visiting Pinewood, 71-53, Friday. The junior netted 30 in a win over The King’s Academy earlier in the week.
This time, without Harrison Carrington and Teddy Purcell, the Gators (3-0) relied on RJ Stephens and Kevin Carney for offensive production. Stephens scored 15 and Carney added 12.
Kiki Bailey scored 18 points to lead Pinewood (0-2).
Sacred Heart Prep faces a tough test Tuesday night when St. Ignatius visits for a nonleague game. Pinewood hosts Harker.
In Portola Valley, Priory beat visiting Crystal Springs Uplands, 71-18, with another balanced scoring attack led by David Ajanaku-Makun, who led with 16 points.
Ashton Axe added 14 points, followed by Tayo Sobemehin with 13 and Zach Zafran with 11.
The Panthers (4-1, 2-0) have a big game with The King’s Academy at home Tuesday night.
The King’s Academy (2-1 in the WBAL) beat Menlo, 67-63, on Friday. Hunter Riley scored 22 points on 67 percent shooting and had 11 rebounds for Menlo, which travels to Crystal Springs Uplands on Tuesday.
Menlo trailed by two after the first, but a 23-point second quarter put TKA ahead 36-23 at the half.
Menlo rallied with a 26-point third period, which included 11 points by Riley. Menlo d outscored TKA, 40-31, in the second half
Senior Chris Cook added 10 points and three rebounds and sophomore Austin Stull added five rebounds. Noah Short, also a top football player, led TKA with 27 points.
In the SCVAL, Gunn finished strong to beat visiting Fremont, 55-40. Gavin Kitch scored 18 points and Yotam Elazar added 15.
Baseball
Tommy Hall and Josh Donaker combined on a one-hitter and Palo Alto beat visiting Homestead, 5-0, in a nonleague game Friday.
Hall struck out five and walked three in his five innings. Donaker threw two hitless innings.
Paly scored three times in the first inning to take control. Aidan Berger drove ina pair of runs and Xavier Esquer had two hits.
The Vikings (5-2) were scheduled to host Sequoia at noon Saturday.
In the Peninsula Athletic League, Hillsdale knocked off Menlo, 8-4, and Carlmont rallied past Sacred Heart Prep,16-12.
JC Ng had two hits for Menlo and Eric Young drove in a pair of runs.
Sacred Heart Prep recovered from a 10-1 deficit to take a 12-10 lead in the top of the sixth. Christos Mavrikakis hit a two-run double to give the Gators (0-2) the lead.
Alec Tonas and Luke Renert also drove in two runs while Tyler Wong, Enzo Pollioni, Charlie Kaneopoulos, Mavrikakis, Tonas and Teddy Purcell each had two hits.
Sacred Heart Prep was scheduled to host Woodside on Saturday morning.
Boys soccer
Gunn celebrated its Senior Night with a 4-1 victory over visiting Homestead on Friday, finishing undefeated for the second straight season, this time in the SCVAL De Anza Division.
Senior caption Alexis Bromberg scored three goals for the Titans, who finish 11-0-1. The only blemish on Gunn’s record was a scoreless tie with Palo Alto in the second
game of the season.
Dane Jefferson started the scoring in the first half off a pass by Christo Hristov, with a cut across the top of the box and hard strike into the goal past the diving goalkeeper.
Bromberg followed with a header off a corner kick from Gunn freshman Marcello Chang, who created the corner by dribbling by one defender then facing off with two more before a defender deflected the ball out of bounds.
Ai Suzuki sent a through ball to Bromberg, who dribbled past a defender to go one-on-one with the goalkeeper and score, giving Gunn a 3-0 halftime advantage.
In the second half, Homestead scored off a great shot during a throw-in. The Titans responded with a penalty-kick goal, taken by Bromberg. The PK was awarded after a Homestead defender fouled Felix Toft in the box.
In the PAL, Menlo-Atherton (2-0-1) played to a 1-1 tie with host Aragon (3-0-1) on Tuesday.
The Bears scored on a free kick from 25 yards out to take the early lead but the Dons were able to tie just before halftime.
Girls lacrosse
Sacred Heart Prep swamped host Menlo, 16-4, in a WBAL match Friday as Eva Shenk and Kat Showalter each scored three goals.
Ellie Noto, Emily Leschin, Lauren Hagerty and Kalista Hurel each added a pair of goals.
In another WBAL Foothill Division contest, St. Francis beat host Menlo-Atherton, 16-5. The Lancers scored the first nine goals of the game.
In the Skyline Division, Woodside topped Carlmont and Priory downed Presentation, 16-5.
Softball
Gunn earned a 15-0 victory over visiting Saratoga as freshman Lauryn Selvaraj pitched a two-hitter.
Junior Kylie Liu collected three hits and four RBIs and senior captain Maddie Ta was 2 for 3 at the plate.
Gunn (4-0) has outscored its opponents by a 61-2 margin this season.
Girls soccer
Gunn (5-4-3) and Homestead played to scoreless draw on Friday.
Emy Kelty scored a goal in Palo Alto’s contest with visiting Los Altos.
Boys lacrosse
Menlo-Atherton defeated host Mountain View, 16-4.
