An eventful past week for the Palo Alto High School girls’ varsity basketball team brought the team a 75-70 victory Tuesday in the first game of the California Interscholastic Federation Girls’ Basketball Championship playoffs in Crescent City, California, against Del Norte High School. 

The team traveled 7 hours by van on Monday afternoon in order to play in the game Tuesday evening. Despite facing some harsh weather conditions, the team successfully made it to Medford, Oregon, where they will be staying for the next couple of nights.

Junior guard Alana Abeyta said despite the long drive, the team was able to make the most of it and mentally prepare for the game.

“It was a really long drive, but it was really fun and we got to bond as a team,” Abeyta said.

The girls previously lost to Sequoia High School on Feb. 23 in the Central Coast Section finals, landing them second place in the CCS playoffs.

After their victorious game against the Menlo-Atherton Bears on Feb. 21, head coach Scott Peters said the girls played to win, but in his opinion, there is still room for the team to grow.

This victory landed the team into the finals against Sequoia on Saturday.

The Vikings played a close game throughout, continuously trying to make 3-pointers and layups. The game was one of their most difficult of the season, with the girls predominantly staying on defense and trying to make as many shots as possible. 

Abeyta said the team could have won, but due to multiple fouls, Sequoia was able to rise above and score more.

“I think the game was challenging, but we definitely could have won,” Abeyta said. “We did what we were supposed to do, which was speed the other team up because they are comfortable playing at a slow speed, but we kept fouling them which gave them lots of rest time and our shots didn’t fall so we weren’t able to score as much as we usually do.”

Paly will play Enterprise High School 7 p.m. tonight in Redding, California.