Watsonville’s girls’ basketball team continues to make a strong case as one of the front runners for Gabilan Division crown after they remain perfect during the opening week of Pacific Coast Athletic League action.
Isa Alvarez, a freshman, had a game-best 22 points and eight steals for the Wildcatz in a 62-32 win over Alvarez on Wednesday evening.
Fellow teammate junior Leilani Yasin recorded a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds to go along with three blocks, while junior Stephanie Martinez contributed nine points, five rebounds and five steals.
After a slow start in the opening stanza, the ‘Catz went on a 22-4 run in the second quarter, and it was all they needed to walk off the court triumphant.
“It took a little bit, but they did a good job of trying to find that intensity that they needed to play in the Gabilan Division,” Watsonville head coach Zach Cook said. “They just found it thankfully.”
Watsonville improved to a 12-2 overall record, and are now 2-0 in league play with the win against Alvarez and Monday night’s victory over Hollister. They are off to one of the best starts in the program’s history, winning 11 of their past 12 games.
The ‘Catz went 3-0 in the 44th Watsonville Girls Basketball Invitational, which they hosted Dec. 4-7. They also went toe-to-toe with some of the best schools over the hill and out of the state in the West Coast Jamboree in Dublin.
“I feel that pushed us to play harder here,” Alvarez said. “We played all the way in San Jose and I feel like the teams over there are much harder than the teams here.”
Watsonville made a statement with a 59-29 crushing win over McDermitt—the defending Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association 1-A East champion.
Yasin said they made it a point to improve ever since getting eliminated from the Central Coast Section Division I playoffs last season. The Wildcatz lost to No. 9 seed Santa Teresa in the first round.
Watsonville finished with an 11-14 overall record, and placed fifth in the Gabilan Division by going 6-8 in league play in the 2023-24 season.
“After the very hard defeat last year in CCS, I think that made us come back even stronger,” Yasin said. “Every single practice we’ve been going hard. We try our best to condition ourselves the most that we can this year because everyone sees us at the bottom of our league. We’re trying to make our way up because we are a really good team and we all really do have a bond in our chemistry.”
The ‘Catz have a solid cast of returning players in seniors Hailey Brooks, Monique De La Mora-Rocha, Fernanda Lazo and Brianna Leon, along with juniors Yasin, Martinez and Itzury Vazquez.
Newcomers to the team include seniors Janina Cabrera and Brianna Reyes, junior Kenya Ramirez, sophomore Lily Ramirez and Alvarez, a freshman who is already having a record-setting season in just her first year with the program.
“All the time that they’ve worked together and all that stuff is now kind of coming together,” Cook said. “And with the addition of a solid freshman who’s kind of been helping out with a lot of different things, the different aspects of the game that [Alvarez] brings, that’s kind of helping us stay on a positive path.”
Alvarez set the school record with six 3-pointers made in one game in the Catz’s 53-35 win over Sobrato on Dec. 4. She passed Sarah Kulich’s previous mark of five that was set in 2008.
The frosh phenom followed up with a new record of 12 steals in one game during Watsonville’s 65-13 win against DCP El Primero on Dec. 5. She surpassed the previous single game record of 11 steals by Xitlali Montesino and Sonya Cervantes set in 2023 and 2013, respectively.
Alvarez is shooting a team-best average of 15.1 points and 4.8 steals per game in 13 games played this season, according to statistics on the Max Preps website.
Martinez has an average of 8.4 points and 4.3 steals per contest, while Lazo is averaging a steady 6.6 points and snatching 4.2 rebounds per game.
Watsonville returns for its fourth year competing in the PCAL Gabilan Division—the highest tier of the four divisions within the league.
They will face familiar foes in Monterey, Salinas, Alvarez and defending co-champions Alisal and Hollister. The only newcomer is Soledad—the defending Mission Division champion.
“We have probably six girls who’ve been playing in the Gabilan Division since we’ve been put in it and they’ve kind of understood the physicality, the level of intensity, the level of competition that you have to bring every single day,” Cook said. “That’s been helping out with this year bringing that success, their experience has been helping.”
Yasin emphasized to her teammates that it won’t be easy competing in the Gabilan Division, yet they have proven that they do belong there.
“I told Isa [Alvarez] they’re not gonna be easy on you because you’re a freshman, they’re going to go after you even harder,” Yasin said. “They’re trying to kill her mentality, her confidence and we really worked on that piece. We’re trying not to go up and down. We’re just staying up where we have a positive mentality each and every game.”
The ‘Catz (12-2, 2-0) continue league play at Salinas (7-6, 1-0) on Friday at 7pm.
