Half Moon Bay Cougars take control atop PAL North girls’ basketball standings

Abby Kennedy and Alli Dioli combined for eight 3-pointers, netting four apiece, keeping the Cougars the only undefeated team in North Division play. Kennedy, a senior guard, finished with a game-high 23 points. Dioli, a junior forward, was right behind with 22.

“This is what they’ve been doing all year so far,” HMB head coach Antonio Veloso said.

What has changed is how they are doing it. While HMB graduated just one senior from last year’s Central Coast Section Division IV championship squad, the team lost two starting players when twin sisters Ally and Abby Co transferred to Notre Dame-Belmont. Abby Co was the Cougars’ point guard, but the vacancy has been filled by Delaney Dorwin, who has slid in to quietly become a distribution machine.

“[The Co sisters] are both very good players but we were lucky enough to have another point guard rolling in that was coming into her own,” Veloso said. “It’s been nice to see.”

Kennedy and Dioli have been the benefactors, with Kennedy shooting 43% from the field this season, and Dioli even better at 47%.

Monday’s loss was the first in PAL North play this season for a reinvigorated Jefferson squad (4-1, 12-4). It snapped an overall winning streak of seven games.

“Until tonight, we’d been really good on offense,” Jefferson head coach Paul Carion said. “It’s been a slow build, but we have consistently built.”

Charlotte Poialii, a 5-10 junior center, led the Grizzlies with six points. But the tall post player’s return from injury Friday, Jan. 14 has helped balance the floor.

Senior forward BrookLynn Daniels was quieted Monday but has been a force this season. Daniels was coming off a double-double performance in last Friday’s 46-37 win over Westmoor, in which she totaled 17 points and 14 rebounds.

Half Moon Bay was just too much to handle. This is a common theme. The Cougars were coming off a win last Friday over Terra Nova by a terribly lopsided score of 82-36. Jefferson at least stuck around through the first period, trailing just 14-11. HMB then went on a 22-3 run in the second quarter.

“The thing is, we knew we were going to do it and they still did it,” Carion said. “That’s how good they are.”

The teams area slated to meet again Wednesday at Jefferson at 6 p.m. It’s the last chance second-place Jefferson — now trailing HMB by one game in the loss column — has to keep its division fate it its own hands.

“We got the one (win), now obviously we want to get two,” Veloso said.

In boys’ basketball action, first-place Half Moon Bay (5-0 PAL North, 8-6 overall) maintained outright control of the PAL North Division with a 57-38 win over Jefferson (4-2, 12-5) in Daly City.

Boys’ basketball

Burlingame 63, Menlo-Atherton 52

The Panthers (2-1 PAL South, 10-4 overall) won the fourth quarter 17-10 to hold off M-A, and in doing so have made a mess of the standings in the Peninsula Athletic League South Division. Burlingame and M-A are now two of three teams in range of second-place with one loss apiece, while Carlmont remains atop the standings as the only unbeaten team in league play. Four Burlingame players scored in double figures, with Sean Richardson leading the way with a game-high 18 points. The Bears (4-1, 10-5) were paced by Ryan Anderson and Jalen Williams with 17 points apiece.

Sacred Heart Prep 87, Harker 38

The Gators (5-0 WBAL Foothill, 12-3 overall) opened on a 32-11 run through the first quarter and never looked back, as they remain atop the West Bay Athletic League Foothill standings as the only unbeaten team in league play. Aidan Braccia lit it up to the tune of a game-high 29 points, connecting for seven 3-pointers. Kevin Carney added 11 points and RJ Stephens scored 10.