Sports Briefs: MC girls rally for playoff win

No. 7 seed Marin Catholic edged No. 10 Ukiah with a 46-41 road victory in Wednesday’s NCS D-II opener. The Wildcats (12-14) advance to Saturday’s quarterfinals against No. 2 Moreau Catholic.

Marin Catholic trailed by two at the half, but came out to get two steals and two baskets within 30 seconds behind Brooke Spagnuolo and complemented by a big 3-pointer from Simone Claxton, who finished with 13 points, including three 3-pointers, and four steals. Spagnuolo had 14 points and five steals, while Cece Biernat had 10 points.

• Second-seeded Branson ran to a 43-31 victory over No. 15 Hayward in Wednesday’s NCS D-IV opener. The Bulls (16-12) advance to Saturday’s quarterfinals against either No. 7 Santa Rosa or No. 10 Upper Lake. Alyssa Huang led the Bulls with 18 points, while Kate Spaulding had 13. Juliette Caldwell-Little controlled the boards with a strong defensive game for the short-handed Bulls.
• Archie Williams High upset No. 5 seed Saint Mary’s, 55-51, in Tuesday’s opening round of the North Coast Section Division III girls basketball bracket. The No. 12 Peregrine Falcons (14-11) engineered a 22-16 fourth-quarter push after a back-and-forth contest to seal the win over the Panthers (12-11). Reese Patton led the Falcons with 16 points and nine rebounds, while Kaia Chiu scored 13 points and hit 3 of 4 free throws to close out the game. The Falcons’ Lila Peterson had nine points and two steals, and Parker Conrad scored seven points and grabbed nine rebounds. The Falcons advance to play No. 4 Miramonte in Friday’s quarterfinals.
• No. 6 San Domenico came out firing but had to hold off a hard-charging Redwood Christian team for a 45-37 road win in Tuesday’s NCS D-V opening round. The Panthers (10-13) opened a big first-half lead, but the Eagles cut the gap to single digits in the second half. The Panthers will face No. 3 St. Joseph in Friday’s quarterfinals.
• No. 13 San Marin fell 51-34 to No. 4 seed Acalanes in Tuesday’s NCS D-I opener in Lafayette. The Mustangs (18-10) trailed by just seven points heading into the fourth quarter, but ran out of gas. Alaina McDowel had a big game with 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Mustangs, who got seven points each from Addy Timmel and Abby Bartholo.

Boys basketball

Top-seeded San Marin High rolled to a 60-46 victory over No. 16 Arroyo in Wednesday’s NCS D-IV opener. The Mustangs (15-12) will face No. 8 Del Norte in Saturday’s quarterfinals.

Jackson Young had a stellar night with 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Mustangs, who got 10 points and three assists from Grant Means. San Marin’s Miller Morgan tallied 11 points, five rebounds and two assists, while he held Arroyo’s leading scorer to just two points. Joey Engler led San Marin with 13 points, four rebounds, three assists and seven steals.

• No. 13 seed Tam High couldn’t pull off the upset of No. 4 Mission San Jose ias the Red-tailed Hawks (12-16) fell 57-52 Wednesday in the NCS D-IV opener.
• Oskar Valiauga turned in 11 points in the fourth quarter as No. 4 seed San Domenico closed out a 62-55 victory over No. 13 Mt. Eden in Tuesday’s NCS D-III opener. Valiauga, despite battling foul trouble most of the game, dominated the paint to rack up 23 points and 14 rebounds for the Panthers, who led by four points at halftime. Omar Williams had a strong game with 22 points, including four 3-pointers. The Panthers will host No. 5 Brave Christian on Friday in the quarterfinals, with the winner facing either Branson or Marin Academy in the semifinals.
• No. 9 seed Marin Academy held off No. 8 College Prep, 67-64, to set up an all-Marin quarterfinal in the NCS D-III bracket. The Wildcats (17-10), who missed the NCS playoffs last season, will face top-seeded Branson on Friday.
• Top-seeded Branson rolled past No. 16 Napa, 71-38, at College of Marin in Tuesday’s NCS D-III opener. NJ Gray posted 24 points and 10 rebounds to go with six steals and four assists for the Bulls. Tyler Wells had 14 points and Kaden Fortune added 10 points for Branson (15-14).
• Richard Byrne scored a team-high 12 points and Max Monterastelli added 10 points, but it wasn’t enough for No. 12 Redwood in Tuesday’s 70-44 loss to No. 5 Amador Valley in the NCS D-I opener. The Giants (12-13) shot 17-for-46 from the floor.
• San Rafael, the 10th seed in the NCS D-III bracket, fell behind early in a 58-48 loss to No. 7 Bentley of Lafayette in Tuesday’s opening round. Bentley hit four 3-pointers to build a 23-7 first-quarter lead over the cold-shooting Bulldogs (14-14). Luke Shapiro scored 13 points in the second quarter to try to rally San Rafael. Shapiro finished the night with 23 points to close his career with 1,459 points. Will Healy added 16 points and 10 rebounds.

Men’s basketball

K’Hamani Olivacce and Olivier Borgol scored 26 points each to power College of Marin men’s basketball past Yuba, 70-68, on Tuesday. Borgol added 18 points to his total for the Mariners (18-9, 9-6 BVC), who are riding a three-game streak heading into Thursday’s season finale against Alameda in Kentfield.

• San Domenico grad Gavin Early had eight points in Santa Rosa’s 69-58 victory over Modesto College on Tuesday. Early is averaging 6.2 points per game this season as the Bear Cubs (23-4) head toward Friday’s regular-season finale at American River College.

Women’s basketball

Jaidyn Brown put up 11 points to lead College of Marin to a 53-43 victory over Yuba on Tuesday. Brooklyn Carter added nine points for the Mariners (15-12, 7-6 BVC), who got seven points each from Bella Turner and Isabella Zepeda. The Mariners are riding a three-game streak heading into Thursday’s season finale against Laney in Kentfield.

Women’s tennis

Lorenza Foster-Simbulan fought back for a three-set win at No. 5 singles win to complete a 4-3 come-from-behind victory for Dominican University over the University of Hawaii in Honolulu on Tuesday. The Penguins’ Deepalakshmi Vanaraja won a marathon 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (5-7), 7-5 match at No. 3 singles to tie the team score at 3-3. The Penguins are back home to host American River College on Friday.

Track and field

San Rafael’s Ellie McCuskey-Hay, of the Marin Waves Track Club and St. Ignatius, medaled in two events at the California High School Winter Championships in Arcadia recently. She took third place in the long jump at 18’7″, and captured fourth in the 60 meter dash in 7.53 seconds. She also placed 10th in the 150 meters (18.30) and 17th in the 300 meters (40.37).

Youth sports

San Domenico boys basketball coach Tyler Gaffaney is launching “Bring Back Play”, a grass-roots push to keep pickup games and unstructured play a part of children’s lives. Gaffaney aims to launch Free Play Fridays in San Anselmo and Free Play Sundays in Novato in the Spring, hoping to offer unstructured activities for children in grades 4-8. Children who sign up at www.bringbackplay.org arrive for a 3-hour session of free play where they “run the show.”

Reporting scores

Coaches are encouraged to report scores, stats and game details via email to sports@marinij.com or to @marinij_sports on Twitter following games. Anything that comes in after the deadline for print – around 8 p.m. typically – will be included the following day.