Athletes of the Week: Cap’s Hailey Hoff, M-A’s Alyssa Faberowski, and Pacific Bay’s Diego Sotto

This is certainly true of the Daily Journal Athletes of the Week — fittingly, three of them — Capuchino sophomore Hailey Hoff, Menlo-Atherton sophomore Alyssa Faberowski and Pacific Bay Christian senior Diego Sotto. Each of them had pivotal fourth-quarter moments to deliver playoff wins for their respective teams: one in the quarterfinals, one in the semifinals, and one with an amazing game-winner in the finals.

So, let’s start with the quarterfinals:

Hailey Hoff, Capuchino, CCS Division III girls’ quarterfinals

En fuego is the only way to describe Hailey Hoff performance in the first quarter of Capuchino’s CCS quarterfinal matchup against Westmoor. The sophomore sharpshooter stepped on the floor, put up four 3-pointers in the period, and buried all four of them.

Then the Mustangs cooled off. From the start of the second quarter, to the opening minutes of the fourth, they went 0 of 14 from beyond the arc. To make matters worse, amid a back-and-forth battle in the fourth quarter, Hailey Hoff limped off the floor with 6:36 to play after tweaking her knee.

“I think I scared myself more than I actually hurt myself,” Hailey Hoff said. “I was fine after.”

The sophomore proved it by reentering the game and reigniting her hot hand in the closing minutes, breaking a 48-48 tie on a splash out of the corner with 1:27 to play, then following it with another to seal the deal, sending Cap to a 55-48 victory.

“I usually do better under pressure,” said Hailey Hoff, who finished with a game-high 21 points. “I don’t know; I just like it better. It’s more motivation.”

Dealing with yet another injury came as no surprise to Hailey Hoff’s father, Capuchino head coach Steve Hoff. The 2019-20 season saw one personnel issue after another for the Mustangs, starting with the loss of last year’s All-Peninsula Athletic League point guard April Tuazon, who moved out of the state.

Then came the injuries. Just prior to the start of PAL South Division play, Cap lost Melesunga Afeaki for the year — “there’s a chance she’s the best player in the county,” Steve Hoff said — then Tiare Novero-Paaga suffered a broken nose and missed three weeks. Even Hailey Hoff missed three league games with a back injury.

So, when his daughter hit the floor hard near midcourt against a physically bruising Westmoor squad, it was one of the moments more characteristic of Cap’s season. Plus, Hailey Hoff isn’t generally one to take on contact.

“She’s allergic to contact, absolutely,” Steve Hoff said. “But the kid can shoot it.”

Yes she can, as she demonstrated again in the CCS semifinals, knocking down two 3s in a 43-36 loss to Mills. Against Westmoor in the quarterfinals, she totaled six 3s.

“I thought she was good,” said Izzy Nodar, a Westmoor senior who hit four 3s in the game. “It was great shots she made to go up — daggers.”

Diego Sotto, Pacific Bay Christian, CCS Division V boys’ semifinals

The Pacific Bay Christian Eagles hadn’t been to the CCS finals since 2012-13, long before Diego Sotto stepped on campus at the small Pacifica private school. Heck, even his brother Lucas, two years his senior, was two years away from debuting with the varsity Eagles.

And heading into the fourth quarter of this year’s CCS Division V semifinals against Stevenson-Pebble Beach, Sotto’s last chance to return the Eagles to the championship stage for his senior year seemed to be slipping away. Trailing 29-25 at the end of the third quarter, Pacific Bay desperately needed a spark, shooting just 23.5% from the field to that point.

If there’s one intangible that surpasses all the speedy point guard’s physical skills, though, it’s the ability to provide a spark.

“Everybody feeds off him,” Pacific Bay head coach Mark Bermudez said. “They know when he starts to get it going offensively, good things are coming overall, and good things are coming for other people too.”

Sotto has the accolades to prove it. Earlier this year in a Private School Athletic League game against Nueva School, the senior became Pacific Bay’s all-time leading scorer, surpassing the previous leader, James Boyd, who held the record with an even 1,200 career points since 2014.

In sparking Pacific Bay to a 42-32 win over Stevenson, Sotto surpassed the 1,300-point career mark, totaling 15 points in the game, including 10 in the fourth quarter. And it was his two 3s that gave the Eagles wings.

Sotto’s first 3 of the night cut Stevenson’s lead to 29-28 with just under seven minutes to play. Then after senior Taran Andrews splashed down to give the Eagles a 33-32 advantage, Sotto doubled down on his team’s following possession, leaning in to a long 20-footer from up top as Pacific Bay finished on a 15-0 run.

“That was great,” Bermudez said. “There have been times where we’ve had these quarters … we had just done it in the quarterfinals too, where everything was just clicking offensively and defensively.”

Through four varsity seasons at Pacific Bay, Sotto has now totaled 1,322 points. He added 20 in the Eagles’ 56-38 loss to Eastside College Prep in Saturday’s CCS finals. He also ranks second on the program’s all-time 3-point list with 193. Only 2014 graduate Joshua Cayetano has more with 206.

Alyssa Faberowski, Menlo-Atherton, CCS Division I girls’ finals

The unflappable Alyssa Faberowski was in the midst of the on-court celebration, following Menlo-Atherton’s 34-32 comeback victory over Palo Alto in the CCS Division I championship game, when Bears assistant coach Roddy Harrison told her she was the only person who could take that shot.

That shot. It will live as one of the greatest in M-A history.

Faberowski buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key with three seconds remaining to give M-A its first lead of the half and all but seal the program’s fourth all-time CCS title, and its first since 1993.

“She’ll always be willing to take a big shot like that,” M-A head coach Steve Yob said. “If there’s one person who’s going to take that shot and not worry about the outcome, it’s her.”

Until hitting that 3-ball with tied game hanging in the balance, Faberowski hadn’t scored any points in the game. That’s right, the sophomore finished with three points on the night. Still, no pressure. Seriously, none.

“No not really,” Faberowski said. “[Yob] trusts me and that gives me a lot of confidence to make those kinds of shots.”

Prior to the game-winner, Faberowski earned her shot with a long offensive rebound, scrambling into the corner and nearly falling out of bounds, but possessing the ball just before teetering over the baseline as Yob strategically called a timeout.

With 21 seconds to go, M-A came out of the timeout looking to create a backdoor drive for guard Malia Latu. But, with Faberowski starting quietly in the corner, Palo Alto switched up its defense to a surprise man-to-man look the Bears weren’t expecting.

“Then I just started sliding up and I just found myself at the top of the key,” Faberowski said.

A few passes into the improvised half-court set, Faberowski looked up at the clock to see there were eight seconds remaining as the ball kicked to her from junior Catharine Chai. And without hesitation, she gathered herself and — Boom! — game-winner.

“I’ve had a couple games like that but nothing, obviously, like a CCS game-winner or anything like that,” said Yob, who coached boys’ basketball for years as a junior-varsity assistant at M-A and Palo Alto before assisting with the varsity team at Woodside. This is his first year coaching girls, and his first year as a varsity head coach.

Heading into Monday’s practice, with the Northern California tournament starting Tuesday, Yob said there was still a buzz over Saturday’s championship thriller.

“It’s still there,” Yob said. “I can’t wait to see them at practice and rehash it. Everyone’s still excited.”