The Paly girls basketball team had an extremely successful season, ending with an overall record of 20-7 while placing 2nd in the league going 10-2 in conference play. 

This outstanding regular season allowed them to qualify for the Open division of CCS for the second year in a row, a very rare and impressive feat for a public school. Not only that, the team had a strong performance in the Open division, going 2-1 in the round-robin stage, shortly missing the championship game. 

“The open division was more competitive and the teams were more skilled,” sophomore Natalie Neumann said. “It was a great opportunity to play against them and to work on our game.”

“It was a great experience,” senior Itzel Torres said. “It was also really fun and surprising how good we were doing considering that [our opponents] were pretty skilled teams.”

With the team qualifying for Open, they got an automatic bid to the Northern California tournament. Unfortunately, their exceptional season came to an end when they fell to Cardinal Newman in the first round of the NorCal playoffs. 

Despite the season falling short, the team is very proud of how they battled.

“Overall, this season was a lot of fun, all our practices were competitive and we all got really close with our teammates,” Neumann said. 

This senior class has been terrific for Paly basketball, and their hard work and dedication have left a memorable legacy.

“[This season] meant a lot to us knowing that we’ve been working for 4 years to build a strong program,” Torres said. “Some of us are now heading to play in college.”

Paly had numerous players honored for their outstanding play throughout the season. Senior guard Kaella Peters and sophomore guard Vienn Sheng were both selected to the SCVAL All-League First Team. While sophomores Katherine Garr and Natalie Neumann were selected for Second Team All-League and Third Team All-League respectively. 

Overall, the Paly girls basketball team had yet another incredible season and they look to train hard in the offseason in order to maintain their success.