After hitting six threes in the first half, Menlo girls’ basketball showed its defense is equally adept, allowing just eight second-half points, in a 43-29 CCS Div. IV semifinal victory at home Thursday.

The two-time defending champion Knights plays Saturday in a rematch of the 2023 CCS Championship: Top seed Menlo (17-9) faces No. 2 Half Moon Bay (16-9) at 5:00 pm on Saturday at Mission College.

Menlo sophomore Sophie Housser fights for a loose ball against SHPOn Thursday, juniors Karen Xin and Ruiqi Liu each tallied 17 points. Xin, who tallied 11 points in the second period, finished with five three-pointers. Liu pitched in with four more threes. Seniors Arthi Abhyanker added nine points and Summer Young eight rebounds, a block. Sophomore Sophie Housser contributed five rebounds and a pair of assists.

Even though they were in different divisions in the WBAL, the teams had already met twice - once in the Mills Tournament, which Menlo won by 14 then again last month when Menlo won by 6.

“In the beginning of the game they started jumping on us a little bit, but I think we adjusted pretty well,” Xin said. I think in the beginning we were a little nervous, then we slowly kept pulling away and pulling away,”

This game, we squeezed gaps and allowed us to close out on the guards better - it was a better overall scout.”

Menlo has played three of the CCS Open Division teams as well as Sac-Joaquin Div. II finalist Vanden, as the team heads into the final then to NorCals.

I think we’re peaking at the right time,” Xin said. “At this point, we’re just trying to make sure no one gets burnt out, we also still have NorCals to go, so we have to make sure our bodies are OK and we’re mentally prepared. We’ve seen almost everything - we’ve played Pinewood, Priory, Riordan, Vanden and a lot of tough teams. it’s just about sticking to what we know works and doing that consistently.”