Basketball Recap: Notre Dame Takes Down Scotts Valley in a Playoff Battle

With a playoff win on the line, Notre Dame rose to the challenge on Tuesday. They took down the Scotts Valley Falcons 58-42. The Tigers have seen this before: they got the W the last time they saw the Falcons, too.

Mika Cary

Steals

12/10/24 vs Jefferson	11
12/21/24 @ Balboa	8
12/14/24 vs Burlingame	8
12/13/24 vs San Lorenzo Valley	7
02/25/25 vs Scotts Valley	6
+ 15 more games

Notre Dame's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Mika Cary, who posted 15 points and six steals. Cary is becoming a predictor of Notre Dame's success: when she posts at least three steals the team is 11-1 (and 4-7 when she doesn't). The team also got some help courtesy of Sammy Kakala, who dropped a double-double with ten points and 11 rebounds.

Notre Dame was working as a unit and finished the game with 15 assists. They are 11-3 when they've passed the ball that well.

Scotts Valley lost despite a true team effort on offense. The best among them was Abigail Shi, who earned 15 points and three steals. She is on a roll when it comes to steals, as she's now grabbed two or more in each of the last 12 games she's played. Another player making a difference was Samantha Rebbert, who had 12 points and four steals.

Notre Dame's win ended a three-game drought at home and bumped them up to 15-8. As for Scotts Valley, their defeat ended an eight-game streak of away wins and brought them to 23-3.

Notre Dame wasted no time getting back out on the court and has already played their next match, a 51-26 loss against Menlo School on the 27th. As for Scotts Valley, they also didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next game, an 11-7 victory against Salinas on the 4th.