San Mateo girls basketball coach Nancy Dinges likes the way her team has responded once league season began.
"I still think we lost some games we should have won," she said Wednesday after the Bearcats beat host Aragon, 38-32, in a PAL South Division contest. "Once league started the girls started to play together and trust each other."
San Mateo (7-3 in league play, 10-12 overall) started the day in fifth place. The Bearcats went to bed in a third-place tie.
The biggest upset was Carlmont knocking off Menlo-Atherton, 46-40, as junior Anistan Smith scored a game-high 18 points. It was the Scots first league victory.
Emma Heath scored 13 points for the Bears (7-3, 11-11). Naomi Baer added 10 points.
Second-place Burlingame also helped, beating Mills, 43-24, with senior Lauren Rally leading the way with 14 points. Senior Nora Gustafson added 10 points for the Panthers (9-1, 20-2).
The Vikings (7-3, 13-9) were led by Bryana Sui, who scored eight points.
In other games, Woodside (10-0, 17-3) rallied from behind to edge Sequoia (3-7, 9-12), 43-42, and Capuchino (3-7, 8-13) topped Hillsdale (1-9, 3-16).
Alena Smith scored 19 points to lead the Bearcats past Aragon. San Mateo scored the game's final eight points to gain the victory.
Girls soccer
The top four teams in the PAL Bay Division all won, separating themselves from the rest of the league.
League leader Woodside (10-0-1, 15-0-2) had a tough time but beat Hillsdale (0-9-2, 0-13-2), 2-0, as Mackenzie Person and Heather Seybert scored for the Wildcats.
Second-place Carlmont (8-2-1, 12-3-2) edged San Mateo (2-6-3, 3-8-6), 1-0, with senior Amelia Jacobs scoring in the second half, getting an assist from freshman Kayla Fong.
Alexis Prieto scored for Burlingame (6-3-2, 9-5-3), which downed Aragon (2-4-5, 6-8-5), 1-0, and Sabiha Viswanathan scored for Menlo-Atherton (6-4-1, 8-5-4) in its 1-0 victory over Terra Nova (1-7-3, 5-8-3).
Friday's Schedule
Girls basketball
(all games start at 6:15 p.m.)
Burlingame at San Mateo
Aragon at Hillsdale
Woodside at Menlo-Atherton
Capuchino vs. Mills at Burlingame
Carlmont at Sequoia
Girls soccer
(all games start at 4 p.m.)
Aragon at Menlo-Atherton
Burlingame at Carlmont
San Mateo at Woodside
Hillsdale at Terra Nova
