Menlo girls take care of business in CCS Division IV semifinals

“That was probably our main goal coming into the season was to get to this spot and qualify,” Menlo head coach John Paye said. “We have a rivalry against Half Moon Bay, as they’ve had a great program over the years. And we look forward to that game.”

Menlo and Half Moon Bay have something else in common, as each has a key player returning from a career-threatening knee injury.

Half Moon Bay senior Alli Dioli has returned to full strength after tearing her ACL last year. As the Cougars’ team leader, Dioli is an odds-on favorite to repeat as the Peninsula Athletic League North Division Most Valuable Player.

Menlo senior Riley Jensen suffered a similar ACL tear her sophomore year, but her recovery hasn’t gone as smoothly. After returning to the starting lineup earlier this season, Jensen suffered a new injury, twisting her ankle while trying to grab a rebound against Pinewood. It wasn’t until two weeks ago she was even sure she’d get to contribute during the playoffs.

“I knew about two weeks ago,” Jensen said. “We were playing Pinewood and Crystal, and I got two minutes in. But literally like two weeks ago is when I was like: I’m going to be back for playoffs and I’m going to be full of strength.”

Jensen has turned into a valuable role player for Menlo. Coming off the bench Thursday, she totaled nine points and five rebounds. After the two teams sparred back and forth in the first quarter, Jensen entered to connect for a corner 3-pointer to give the Knights their first two-possession cushion at 21-17. She’d hit another 3 in the fourth quarter.

With Menlo touting young emerging stars in freshman Ruiqi Liu and sophomore Karen Xin, Jensen’s acceptance as a role player has been a key factor in the team turning around its season. The Knights lost five straight games in mid-January, including four straight in West Bay Athletic League Foothill play.

Now, the Knights will be playing for a shot at their eighth all-time CCS championship.

“It’s been great just to get back,” Jensen said. “I feel like my role has been just to kind of be a hustle player, to get every loose ball, get as many rebounds as possible, and make a few 3s or drive to the basket when I can. But really just help our star players Karen and Ruiqi, and just be a hustle player. And defense is where it starts for me.”

TKA (17-8) put a scare into Menlo early, however, with a flurry of 3-pointers, connecting for two early 3s and going on to attempt 39 in the game. TKA simply wasn’t on target, shooting 19.7% from the field, including 6 of 39 on 3-pointers.

“We knew they can score, we’ve seen them play,” Paye said. “And we’ve played against them before when they just get on fire, and we talked about that for the last 48 hours. And, fortunately, the last three quarters they didn’t make many of their shots.”

TKA was clinging to a 15-14 lead after the first quarter, then muddled through a stretch of 10 minutes without hitting a field goal. TKA shot 0 of 11 from the field in the second quarter and didn’t break the drought until senior Kiyomi Peterson hit a 10-foot jumper a minute and half into the third.

“You can’t make all those shots all the time, I know that,” Paye said. “So, I was happy.”

Xin — sporting some bright red shoes to offset Menlo’s white-and-gold home uniforms — scored a game-high 15 points and stretched the floor with a variety of different shot looks. Liu added eight points and six rebounds, while junior big Summer Young scored seven.

Junior guard Estella Wu scored a team-high 12 points for TKA.

With the CCS basketball tournaments using neutral sites for the semifinals this season, Menlo was one of the only teams in the section to play on its home court Thursday.

“We’re very fortunate to play here,” Paye said. “So, it wasn’t guaranteed we’d play here in the second round, and we did. So, I think it was to our advantage, for sure.”