Hollister
– The Tri-County Athletic League will be nothing if not
well-represented in this year’s Central Coast Section girls’
basketball playoffs.
By Joshua Staloch
Staff Writer
Hollister – The Tri-County Athletic League will be nothing if not well-represented in this year’s Central Coast Section girls’ basketball playoffs.
And the nice thing for Gilroy, Hollister and Salinas – the three schools in Division I? There won’t be anymore showdowns this season with Division IV Notre Dame, the TCAL champion which once again went undefeated in league this past season.
League runner up Gilroy (18-9) claimed the No. 3 seed at Saturday’s CCS playoff meeting and gets a game at home to start the postseason, taking on No. 14 Monte Vista Wednesday night at 7.
“Well, I haven’t had an opportunity to see them play yet,” said Gilroy head coach Kari Williams. “I do know that they have great outside shooting so we’re going to have to play some good defense and kind of capitalize on our height.”
Senior post Amanda Link, who led the Mustangs in scoring for the second half of the TCAL season, provides the kind of height Williams was talking about. Guards Kristen Campos, Katherine Hussey, Marissa Nowakowski and Shanté Mancera spearhead the half-court defensive press that proved so successful for Gilroy this year.
Standouts honored
TCAL coaches likely wrote in the name of Notre Dame’s Jessica Ross for MVP at the beginning of the season. Over the weekend, all they had to do was mail the ballots in.
The Gilroy native was the easy choice for Most Valuable Player after leading the Spirits to another 10-0 record in league. Notre Dame had three First Team selections in all, while Gilroy had two.
Campos and Link were automatic picks for the First Team. They were joined by Hussey and forward Kendall Costa on the Second Team.
