Athletes of the Week: Menlo’s Coco Layton and M-A’s Erica Fischer

Two of Atherton’s girls’ basketball teams turned in stunning comeback wins in their respective CIF State Girls’ Basketball Championships regional semifinals Saturday night. In the Division II bracket, Menlo School came roaring back from 15 points down to knock off San Joaquin Memorial-Fresno 61-54.

Meanwhile, east of El Camino Real, Menlo-Atherton bounced back from an 11-point deficit to advance in the Division IV tournament with a 42-39 win over Lowell-SF.

For Menlo, sophomore forward Coco Layton was the star of the show, knocking down five 3-pointers, including three in the third quarter as the Lady Knights overtook San Joaquin. And with each splash, the roar of the crowd at Sacred Heart Prep — Menlo’s gym was booked, so the Knights borrowed their neighbor’s gym just up Valparaiso Avenue — was all the fuel the Menlo fire needed.

“Especially once we got going, everyone was super-excited, everyone was cheering,” Layton said. “They knew every shot was so vital.”

Menlo-Atherton faced the toughest challenge in stopping a potential landslide to start the second half. Trailing 26-21 at the half, the Bears were on the short end of a 6-0 run to open the third quarter. That’s when M-A head coach Markisha Coleman called a timeout to steady her team’s collective shooting hand.

“She was telling us to really focus on taking the shot … that we need to believe the second we release the shot,” M-A senior Erica Fischer said.

Fischer and Layton are sharing Daily Journal Athlete of the Week honors for their heroism. For Fischer, her team-high 14 points loomed large in the waking minutes of M-A’s vital third-quarter timeout. She responded with back-to-back 3-pointers, sparking a 15-0 run for the Bears.

M-A hit just one 3-pointer in the first half, uncharacteristic of a team that has proven to have the hot hand in winning 10 of its last 11 games. Yet the only 3, prior to Fischer’s second-half surge, came from senior Oron Estes in the first quarter.

“Especially in the first half, a lot of shots they usually make they just weren’t hitting,” Coleman said. “They were right there, the shots didn’t go down. Shooting wise, they just didn’t go down in the first half.”

The versatile Fischer gave M-A just what it needed though. A year ago, with now-graduated Carly McLanahan the most surefire 3-point shooter in San Mateo County anchoring the wing, Fischer served more as an inside force.

“I’ve always known the 3-point shot is important,” Fischer said. “But when I was playing with Carly, I didn’t think about the 3-point shot.”

Fischer’s athleticism allows her to adapt quickly, though. And even the basketball court can’t hold her. In the fall, the senior was named the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division Most Valuable Player in volleyball. She followed that up with first-team all-PAL South Division honors on the basketball court.

“She does everything,” Coleman said. “She can drive and get to the rim., she can hit the outside shots, she gets rebounds. She’s an all-around player. Anything you ask her to do, she can do.”

And just as Fischer was stoking the roar of the M-A crowd, Layton was getting cooking on the west side of town.

That wasn’t the way it started for Menlo, as San Joaquin opened with a 3-point spree of its own. Knights head coach John Paye said the scouting report didn’t give much credence to the Fresno squad’s outside prowess.

“Obviously all of us were little bit shocked,” Paye said. “But we were able to calm down from there.”

Menlo found itself trailing 26-11 in the second quarter.

“It wasn’t looking too great,” Layton said.

Maybe a younger squad would crumble under the Nor Cal pressure of such a deficit. And by “younger,” you’d have to delve into the middle school ranks, with Menlo carrying a majority of sophomore starters in Layton, point guard Avery Lee and guard Georgia Paye.

The core group is as veteran as a sophomore trio can be though, playing year round on the AAU club circuit at Paye’s Place. (Fischer, in grade school, also spent one season playing for the AAU club.)

“I think we have a really close team, even though we’re young,” Paye said. “I attribute that to our captains. … We don’t ever get too excited or too down.”

Lee and junior forward Maeia Makoni are those captains. And once Layton started peppering from beyond the arc, the rest of the team followed suit. Makoni hit two 3s and sophomore Danielle McNair hit another.

“I knew we were going to be able to come out of it,” Layton said. “But it was a little bit worrisome when we were down so much.”

Early in the third quarter, though, the Knights went ahead and never looked back, just as the Bears were doing the same on a special night spanning the city of Atherton. And with the two teams each hosting in Tuesday’s Nor Cal regional finals — M-A hosts Oakland Tech, while Menlo returns home to host Enterprise-Redding; both games start at 7 p.m. — the 94027 zip code will be looking for a command performance.

Although, this time, no one will complain if the teams can temper the dramatics.