The girls varsity basketball team lost to the Palo Alto High School (Paly) Vikings Friday, January 16, by a score of 50-43.

The Eagles started off strong. Co-captain junior Meg Enthoven’s eight first quarter points, including going 6 of 6 from the free throw line, helped give Los Altos a 13-7 lead at the first intermission.

Paly took control of the second quarter. Enthoven picked up her third foul with more than seven minutes remaining and had to watch the remainder of the half from the bench. The Eagles’ offense stalled, and Paly outscored them 18-7 in the second quarter to bring the score to 25-20 in favor of the Vikings at the half.

In the second half Los Altos struggled with Paly’s full court press, and were held scoreless for the first four minutes. On the other side of the court, the Vikings extended their lead to as many as seventeen points. Los Altos’ offence recovered, though, and buckets by Enthoven, senior Rebecca Andrews and junior Rachel Glein cut the Vikings’ lead to twelve points.

Los Altos got it closer in the fourth quarter, narrowing the lead down to as few as six points, but couldn’t quite close the gap all the way.

Enthoven led the Eagles with 19 points, Andrews added seven and Glein tacked on six.

The loss brings Los Altos to 4-9 overall and 1-2 in league. Their next game will be next Wednesday, January 20 at Mountain View High School, and their next home game will be against Los Gatos next Friday, January 23.