Sports Briefs: MA-Branson girls set up semifinal hoops clash

No. 6 seed Marin Academy upset No. 3 St. Helena, 29-22, in Saturday’s North Coast Section girls basketball Division IV quarterfinal to set up an all-Marin showdown in the semifinals. Marin Academy is scheduled to face No. 2 Branson on Wednesday.

The Wildcats (17-11) turned up the heat on defense against St. Helena, as they held the Saints without a basket in the second half, limiting St. Helena to just eight free throws. Penelope Lee and Navah Bailey had five points each for Marin Academy, while Sterling Colpitts and Lucy Robinson had six points each.

• Alyssa Huang poured in 18 points as second-seeded Branson held off No. 7 Santa Rosa, 51-41, in Saturday’s NCS D-IV quarterfinals. The Bulls (18-12) got 15 points from Kate Spaulding and 12 from Juliette Caldwell-Little.
• San Domenico rolled to the NCS D-V semifinals with Saturday’s 63-43 victory over No. 3 St. Joseph in Alameda. The No. 6 Panthers (11-13) will face No. 10 Sonoma Academy.

No. 7 seed Marin Catholic (12-14) fell 74-48 to No. 2 Moreau Catholic in Saturday’s NCS D-II quarterfinals. The Wildcats got off to solid start before the Mariners took control. Moreau Catholic, with a nine-point lead after the first quarter, went on a 9-0 run to start the second before building a 23-point lead before halftime which the Wildcats could not overcome.

Boys basketball

Top-seeded San Marin High kicked into high gear in the second quarter with an 18-3 run to beat Del Norte 64-43 in Saturday’s NCS D-IV quarterfinals. The Mustangs (16-12) will face No. 4 Mission San Jose in Wednesday’s semifinals. Grant Means had 13 points and eight assists to lead San Marin, while Jackson Young posted 12 points and 12 rebounds. Miller Morgan had a big night with 12 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. The Mustangs got seven points from Kellen Dunning, six from Jake Beisler and five from Anthony Elwell, as well as tough defense.

• Novato resident George Chaput scored 18 points to lead St. Vincent de Paul to a 68-54 victory over Jewish Community School in Saturday’s NCS D-VI quarterfinals in Petaluma. The top-seeded Mustangs (19-10) advance to the semifinals against No. 4 Averroes (17-9) of Fremont. Dylan Chelew and Jack Ellis, both of Novato, had 17 and 12 points, respectively for St. Vincent.

Boys soccer

Archie Williams went in front on a goal by Devin Singh but top-seeded Berkeley (19-2-2) battled back, equalizing 1-1 before emerging victorious on penalty kicks in the NCS D-I quarterfinals on Saturday night

Sean Chamberlin had the assist and also converted the first kick in the shootout for the No. 8 Peregrine Falcons (14-6-3). Archie Williams also got successful penalty kicks from Singh and Silas Eyler.

• Tam scored just before halftime and went ahead midway through the second half but was unable to hold off a late charge by No. 2 San Ramon Valley (16-4-5), falling 3-2 in the D-I quarterfinals on Saturday night. Jackson Burton scored to make it 1-1 following a long throw-in in the 39th minute. No. 7 Tam (13-5-4) went ahead 2-1 on a goal by Kieran Conrady, assisted by Marco Caruso.
• No. 8 Marin Academy (6-10-7) saw its postseason run end in the D-IV quarterfinals following a 1-0 loss at No. 1 Petaluma (9-6-6) on Saturday night.

Mountain biking

Simon Hewett of Archie Williams High and Redwood’s Dylan Nofziger finished 1-2 in the varsity boys race at the Redwood/Repack Regions Fun at the Fort race near Fort Ord. Hewett (1:11:45.64) pulled ahead of Nofziger (1:12:11.10) on the final lap to finish nearly 26 seconds in front. San Rafael’s Austin Geyer (1:13:23.22) placed fourth in the season opener. Tam’s Tallinn Phillipps placed ninth, followed  in 10th through 13th by Redwood’s Asa Turner, Daniel Lewin and Dylan Corteville, and North Marin Composite’s Carter Wielt.

Sarah Haskell of Archie Williams took fourth (1:27:54.58), with teammate Vesper Klausner sixth (1:28:38.69) in the varsity girls race. Tam’s Greta Jackson took eighth, with Marin Academy’s Agnes Robinson 10th and Redwood’s Paloma Nacamuli 11th.

Branson’s Noa Schachter won the JV2 girls race, while Tam’s Vera Martin was fourth in the JV1 girls race. Redwood’s Carl Wozniak edged Tam’s Leonardo Gaetani to win the JV2 D-I boys race. Tam’s Axel Kolterman nipped teammate Aleko Nicholas to win the JV1 D-I boys race.

College athletics

College of Marin, celebrating its centennial year, is relaunching the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame this year.

“As we mark 100 years of College of Marin, relaunching our Athletics Hall of Fame is a meaningful way to honor the people who built our athletic legacy,” COM’s Ryan Byrne said in a press release. “We invite alumni, former coaches, staff, and community members to submit nominations and help us recognize those who deserve to be celebrated during this historic milestone.”

Nominees may include former student-athletes, coaches, teams, administrators, and contributors who have demonstrated outstanding athletic achievement, leadership, sportsmanship, and service to College of Marin. A special category is also available to honor impactful faculty and staff members whose work significantly advanced the Athletics Department.

COM is now accepting nominations for future Hall of Fame classes. Nomination forms can be found on the online at https://athletics.marin.edu/. The deadline for nominations is March 27.

Youth sports

Jasmine Giavina of the Marin Waves Track Club took first place in the girls middle school ranks in the 60 meter and 200 meter at the Cal Berkeley All-Comer Meet on Saturday. Giavina ran the 60 in 8.50 seconds for 17th place overall, and the 200 in 28.51 seconds, to tie for 23rd overall. Both times were personal bests.

• 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.