Paly girls’ basketball rose above the Los Gatos Wildcats and won their last league game 64-62, securing their undefeated season and league championship.

The game started off with Lauren Koyama (‘17) scoring the first points of the game. Skylar Burris (‘17) followed in her teammates footsteps and scored quickly after, which gave Paly a lead.

The Wildcats came back strong and scored a three, which was quickly matched by Koyama who stole the ball and drove down court for a layup.

Los Gatos then scored another layup, but was once again matched by Paly with a play by Koyama to Alexis Harris (‘16) for two more points, which made the score 8-7 at 4:04.

The Wildcats then came back and scored two threes which gave them the lead late in the first quarter. Harris then drove to the basket to score two more, which was matched by Gatos making a free throw.

Sophie Frick (‘18) was then fouled and makes both her free throws at the line. The Wildcats then scored another three-pointer, which made the score 12-19 Gatos for the first quarter.

The Wildcats came out strong in the second quarter and scored two three pointers right off the bat. Julie Chandler (‘17) then scored one of her two free throws for Paly, which along with Koyama’s layup and another layup by Gatos made the score 15-26.

“Los Gatos was making all their shots but we didn’t get down,” head coach Scott Peters said.

Paly’s Skylar Burris (‘17) made a layup, was fouled, and proceeded to make one of her free throws. Gatos then scored another layup, but fouled Maya Lathi (‘17) who made both of her free throws.

With the score at 20-28 and Paly still trailing Courtney Lovely (‘16) scored a layup, but the potential comeback is quickly squandered by the Wildcats who scored two threes.

The Vikings then called a timeout, and Lovely came back into the game to score three points for Paly with 1:10 left in the game.

Chandler scored along with Burris who made her free throw. The Wildcats then ended the quarter and scored two free throws and a jump shot from the top of the key which made it 29-38 at the half.

Koyama and Harris came into the quarter strong and both scored layups in the first minute of the second half. Gatos scored a layup, but then fouled Harris which gave her the opportunity to make a free throw and make the score 34-40.

The Wildcats then scored another basket, but it was quickly matched by Koyama. Gatos scored back to back layups with 4:15 remaining in the quarter.

Chandler scored two points for Paly which made it 40-46. Gatos then scored a three and two free throws, Burris retaliated with a layup, but a Gatos player was fouled again and made another free throw. The score was then 51-42 going into the final quarter of the game.

“We came out hard in the fourth,” Koyama said. “We knew we wanted to win and we made it happen. It was our game.”

Koyama came out strong in the fourth quarter scoring four points right off the bat. Lovely then hit her free throw which made it a four point game early on in the quarter.

Koyama scored a three which made it 50-51 with five minutes of basketball left to be played. Burris then got the rebound and drove across the court for a layup which put Paly in the lead for the first time in the half.

Just as Paly was gaining momentum, the Wildcats scored a layup and two free throws which put them back in the lead.

Koyama made a three with 3:01 remaining to tie the game 55-55. Atwater then matched another Gatos layup by scoring two free throws.

Harris then scored two points, and the Wildcats called a timeout with less than a minute remaining and the score at 59-58.

“When we got up by one we just had a belief that we were going to win this game,” Coach Peters said. “The girls stayed composed, they didn’t get rattled, and they got it done.”

The Wildcats came out tough and scored a three right off the bat, but lead scorer Koyama quickly shut them down and scored a three right after. Gatos then called two timeouts in a row in an attempt to draw out the clock.

Gatos then got fouled with 8 seconds remaining and made one of their two, which tied the game at 62-62.

In a last effort to score Atwater received the ball at the baseline and drove in to score the game winning bucket and close their undefeated season with a score of 64-62.

The team will go on to play in the CCS tournament, and their schedule will be announced in the upcoming weeks.