Girls basketball

No. 20 Evergreen Valley 50, Willow Glen 44

Evergreen Valley saved its best for last Thursday night. The Cougars broke a 37-37 tie in the fourth quarter to beat Willow Glen. Evergreen Valley is 6-0 in the BVAL Mt. Hamilton and 15-3 overall. Cougars coach Drew Fenstermaker said the difference in the fourth quarter was his team’s pressure defense and rebounding. The game was close throughout. The teams were tied 14-14 after the first eight minutes. Evergreen Valley held a slim 26-23 lead at the half. The Cougars are a young team. Junior Aastha Bhagat was their leading scorer with 22 points, and 6-foot sophomore Diya Dharmashankar added 11 points and grabbed five rebounds. Another sophomore, Samanvi Gudlavaletti, had four steals, two of them in the fourth period. Senior Daven Woodham had six rebounds and dished out five assists. Willow Glen is 11-6 overall and 2-3 in league action. The Rams were led in scoring by Lucia Diaz with 14 points.

No. 7 Piedmont 54, Alameda 44

The Highlanders outscored Alameda 16-8 in the fourth quarter en route to their 14th win against three defeats. It was a nail-biter until then, with Piedmont clinging to a 38-36 lead after three quarters. Piedmont, 2-1 in the West Alameda County Conference Foothill Division, trails Bishop O’Dowd by a game and a half. Alameda is 11-7, 1-2.  

No. 11 Bishop O’Dowd 85, San Leandro 8

The Dragons improved to 11-6 overall and 4-0 in the WACC Foothill with the lopsided road win. Bishop O’Dowd has won its four league games by an average of 38.5 points. Up next for O’Dowd is a Saturday visit to Salesian, ranked No. 15 in the Bay Area News Group Top 20. San Leandro, which slipped to 10-7, will try to right things Monday when it hosts Pittsburg in a non-league contest.

Moreau Catholic 68, Newark Memorial 38

The host Mariners kept their MVAL record unblemished at 7-0. It was 40-25 at the half, and Moreau put the game away by outscoring Newark Memorial 16-5 in the third quarter. Ellie Ortega led three Mariners in double figures with 18 points. Malaysia Atkins had 12 and Ava Bowens added 11 as Moreau improved to 13-7 overall. Angelina Baca had 17 points for Newark Memorial (7-13, 1-6). 

Westmont 43, Silver Creek 29

The Warriors put the game out of reach in the third quarter, outscoring Silver Creek 10-4 in the period to make it 30-14. The Silver Creek offense finally got it going during the final eight minutes, but it was too little too late. Westmont improved to 13-5 on the season and 3-1 in the BVAL Santa Teresa. The Raiders are 4-11 overall but very much in the league race at 2-2. Amira Dyer had a huge night in a losing cause with 18 of Silver Creek’s 29 points.

Boys basketball

No. 2 Salesian 85, Vallejo 26

Alvin Loving poured in 22 points and Alvin Moulton had 10, leading Salesian (19-1, 8-0 TCAL Rock) to its 13th win in a row. The Pride’s only loss was by one point to No. 1-ranked Riordan, but it will face a rigorous challenge Saturday against St. Joseph-Santa Maria (21-1) in the Crush in the Valley showcase at Contra Costa College. Tipoff is at 8:15 p.m. Salesian led 47-13 at the half against Vallejo (6-16, 1-7).  

No. 20 St. Mary’s-Berkeley 85, Pinole Valley 63

The Panthers (16-5, 6-3 TCAL Rock) led 42-31 at the half, then scored 43 more points after intermission to win going away. It was the fifth time this season St. Mary’s has scored 80 or more points in a game. Pinole Valley fell to 8-13 overall and 2-7 in league play.

Bishop O’Dowd 69, San Leandro 50

Bishop O’Dowd placed four players in double figures in what turned out to be a pretty competitive game against San Leandro. The visiting Dragons didn’t put the game away until the fourth quarter, when they outscored the Pirates 18-8. Bishop O’Dowd improved to 10-8 this season and 3-1 in the WACC Foothill, where it trails Alameda by one game. Brandon Roundtree was the scoring leader for O’Dowd with 16 points, including nine in the third quarter. Ose Oriabure had 14 for the Dragons while Josh Green and Avery Loftus each chipped in 11. San Leandro, which is 3-16, 0-4, got 15 points from Elijah Rubio, 14 from Xavier Proctor-Montgomery and 13 from Darren Stamps.

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