The Viking girls’ basketball team used an explosive first-half offense and shot blocking to soundly defeat the Los Gatos Wildcats, 48-41, on Tuesday.

Paly took the ball from the tip-off and used an aggressive passing game to quickly move down the court, getting foul shots from senior Liz Slater and a three-pointer from junior Madison Hoffacker. While the Wildcats did pull down a pair of Paly passes for steals, the Vikings’ rebounding helped amass an 18-9 lead from Los Gatos’ missed shots.

The early scoring was unusual for the Vikings, who have often fallen behind in the first half and relied on defense to secure comeback wins. Junior Olivia Garcia said the team was mostly motivated by their opponent.

“We had a lot of energy because we lost to them on the road,” Garcia said. “We were really pumped up.”

Paly’s offensive control continued into the second quarter as the team matched Los Gatos shot-for-shot in the paint and took advantage of several Wildcat fouls on a 6-0 run.

The Vikings outscored Los Gatos in the second period thanks to a relentless defense, fueled by an impressive play from Slater. Los Gatos had driven deep into Paly territory but Slater came over the top of one Wildcat to knock down the shot. With that effort, Paly again held the Wildcats to nine points to go into the half leading, 29-18.

Paly’s offense cooled in the second half as Los Gatos began passing deeper into Viking territory and taking more frequent shots to close the scoring gap. The Vikings found their own drives limited by a tighter Wildcat defense.

“A lot of it has to do with Olivia Garcia,” head coach Scott Peters said. “They [Los Gatos] tried to take her away by keeping the ball away from her which let other players score.”

Los Gatos’ long drive eventually paid off as they put a 6-0 run of three-pointers and foul shots to close within five points of the Vikings, but that was as close as they came for the remainder of the game.

“We were trying to take away their best players on the zone and other players started hitting some shots,” Peters said. “We probably should’ve switched back to the zone in the third quarter.”

The Vikings used their momentum to break away in the final period, as Los Gatos’ shooting became increasingly desperate. Slater scored twice on Los Gatos turnovers in the final minutes, as Paly cruised to a seven-point victory, 48-41.

“We’ve gotten much better at executing our zone [defense],” Peters said. “We pulled them out of their zone to play man [defense].”

The Vikings will next play at Fremont on Feb. 12 at 7 p.m.