County teams go .500 in the first round of Nor Cal hoops

On the boys’ side, the Division IV bracket is still loaded with county teams, with three squads still alive. Sacred Heart Prep, the No. 2 seed and Central Coast Section Division IV champion, advanced to the second round of the Division IV Nor Cal bracket following a 67-63 win over No. 15 Lowell.

No. 5 Half Moon Bay rode 24 points from Levi Meighan and 19 from Owen Lopez to take down No. 12 University Prep-Redding, 64-61. Burlingame, the No. 11 seed, made the short trip to San Francisco to beat No. 6 Sacred Heart Cathedral, 55-48.

As an added bonus, the Panthers will get a second-round home game because No. 14 Brett Harte-Angels Camp upset No. 3 Enterprise-Redding, 57-47. Burlingame and the Bullfrogs will tip off a 7 p.m. Thursday; SHP will host No. 10 Soquel, which knocked off No. 7 McLane-Fresno, 44-39; HMB will also be at home Thursday, hosting No. 13 Sanger West at 7 p.m.

CCS Division V champ, Priory, got the No. 4 seed in Division III and will host No. 5 Branson at 7 p.m. Thursday after rolling past No. 13 Christian Brothers-Sacramento, 85-63.

Conversely, three other boys’ teams had their seasons come to a close. Serra, seeded No. 10 in Division II, ended the season on a four-game losing streak, falling 62-58 to No. 7 Amador Valley-Pleasanton. No. 13 Clovis West topped No. 4 Menlo-Atherton, 64-60, in another Division II game, while No. 16 Carlmont was dumped by top-seeded Natomas-Sacramento, 64-55 in a Division III matchup.

Three county girls’ teams also made it to the second round. Priory, which earned the No. 5 seed in Division I, suffocated another team, holding No. 12 Immanuel-Reedley to 22 points in a 40-22 win, as Ugreat Daniels scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Gabby Wickham had 11 points, four rebounds and four steals, while Jordyn Moss had 11 rebounds and five steals to go with seven points.

The Panthers will get another home game as No. 13 Clayton Valley knocked off No. 4 Caruthers, 57-51.

Menlo-Atherton, the CCS Division I champ and seeded No. 11 in the Nor Cal Division III bracket, went on the road to beat No. 6 Torres-Madera, 60-51. The Bears had three players score in double figures, led by Lita Fakapelea, who finished with 19 points. The Tava sisters, senior Luisa and sophomore Mary, combined for 25 points.

And despite being the No. 11 seed, the Bears will host a second-round game at 7 p.m. Thursday when No. 14 St. Bernard’s-Eureka upset No. 3 Alisal, 51-48.

In another Division III game, Notre Dame-Belmont pulled off the upset of the night as the 16th and last seed took down top-seeded Placer-Auburn, 44-39. The Tigers will get a much closer second-round game as they’ll head into the Santa Cruz mountains to take on No. 8 Scotts Valley at 7 p.m. Thursday, the team that beat NDB for the CCS Division IV championship last Sautrday, 53-42.

Like Serra, the Half Moon Bay girls’ team ended its season on a four-game slide after capturing the Peninsula Athletic League on the final night of the regular season. They lost all three games in the Open Division debut and then as the No. 10 seed in Division III, the Cougars were beaten by No. 7 West Campus-Sacramento, 54-41.

The three PAL teams in Division IV, all saw their seasons end. No. 11 Aragon was beaten by No. 6 University Prep-Redding, 65-60; No. 12 Mills, the CCS Division III champ, was topped by No. West Valley-Cottonwood, 70-49, while No. 14 Hillsdale was clipped by No. 3 Lathrop, 43-42.