Aptos High Girls Basketball Earn Title For Third Time In Four Years
By Jondi Gumz
The 2019-20 Aptos High School girls basketball team won the Central Coast Section D3 championship on Feb. 29, defeating Mills 57-30 and earning a banner to hang in the gym.
Natalia Ackerman (35) is ready to rebound against Vista del Lago. • Photo Credit: Jondi Gumz
The Mariners have claimed the Division 3 championship three times in the past four years.
Afterward, the girls, who are Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League champions, moved up in MaxPrep’s computer rankings to No. 591 in the nation.
Coached by Bruce Funk, the Aptos girls ranked No.13 in Division 3 and No. 69 overall in California before they ended their season in the NorCal semi-finals with a 27-5 record.
Seeded No. 8 in the NorCal playoffs, the Mariners played No. 5 Woodside on their court in Portola Valley and lost in overtime, 59-53.
In their NorCal run, the Mariners had put together a come-from-behind victory, 48-45, against No. 9 seed Vista Del Lago of Folsom, but the Priory Panthers proved to be tougher.
Along the way, senior Natalia Ackerman, a four-year starter headed to play at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, set a school scoring record.
Coach Bruce Funk tells his team how to win against Vista del Lago. • Photo Credit: Jondi Gumz
She lit up the boards for 1,764 points, surpassing Hannah Hocom, who scored 1,529 in her four-year career and graduated in 2019.
Senior Gabby Guiffre, a four-year starter who will play at University of San Diego, scored 1,357 points in her career, putting her fifth on the Mariners’ all-time scoring list.
In interviews Friday night with the Aptos Times, some of the starters — friends since fifth grade at Bradley Elementary — talked about their dream season.
For Natalia, winning CCS — the game against Mills — is her favorite memory.
“That meant a lot to us,” she said. “That was our goal — winning CCS.”
The Aptos team dominated Mills, earning a lopsided 57-30 victory.
“It was crazy — our defense was killer,” Natalia said, referring to senior twins Madison and Emma Stefanini, who kept their opponents from shooting and made them miss shots.
Natalia Ackerman sports a tired smile after scoring a record 34 points against Lick-Wilmerding. • Photo Credit: Jondi Gumz
The seniors had to adjust to a new coach, their third, and they appreciated Funk’s style.
“He was awesome,” Natalia said. “He put a lot of time in, and he really believed in us. We always had a strong mindset going into games.”
Assessing the season, she said, “We put a lot of our heart into it. We went as far as we could — we went farther than we’ve gone in a long time — since 1984 … l’m not sure what we could have done differently.”
She thanked fans for their support.
Asked about the cancellation of the state championship, she said, “It’s heart-breaking.”
Madison said her favorite memory was beating Lick-Wilmerding in the second game of the NorCal playoffs.
The secret sauce? Trust.
Seniors: Natalia Ackerman, Madison Stefanini, Emma Stefanini, Gabby Giuffre, Rylee Mennie, and Rhealyn Dimatulac; Juniors: Angelina Ontiveros, Mikayla Garcia, and Santana Rigor; sophomores: Jasmine Ackerman, Jaylen Dang, Haley Ortega, and Erin Schmidt.
“We really honed in our defense,” she said. “We trusted each other we would do our best … be on our man and stay aggressive.”
The Stefaninis, being fraternal twins, had another advantage, confusing their opponents as to who is covering who.
This year’s team had a following, “”the biggest turnout we’ve had,” said Madison. “It was incredible for them to come out.”
Funk, an attorney in San Jose, moved to Aptos a year ago.
He got the Mariners’ coaching job eight months ago. At Foothill High in Pleasanton, his teams won more than 100 games in seven years and went to the North Coast Section playoffs five times.
He’s a 2011 winner of the Darrell Hirashima award for coaching excellence. And he was a Hall of Fame basketball player at Ohlone College before winning a scholarship to play at Eastern New Mexico University.
He brought on his brother, Chris Funk, as assistant coach at Aptos.
Learning of the new coach, “I was really excited,” Madison said.
For Emma, who has played varsity for four years, this was her first year as a starter.
“I really like defense,” she said. “Being able to close out.”
That means shutting down the opponent: She likes being able to move around a lot, and diving for loose balls while her sister Madison is know for steals
Natalia, who is 6-foot-1, led the team in rebounds, 10.5 per game, and blocks, 2.2 per game, and steals, 3.1 per game. Her sister Jasmine, a sophomore, was second in steals, 1.8 per game.
Gabby led in assists, 2.8 per game, and was second in points per game with 11.6.
“We all played really well together,” Emma said. “Four of us have been playing together since fifth grade — Bradley Elementary, then Aptos Junior High.”
She said students are one reason for the large turnout at Mariners’ games.
“Our senior class was really supportive,” she said.
Madison said she intends to go to a state college, but is not sure where.
Emma said she will go to Cabrillo College in Aptos, focusing on academics instead of sports.
“I want to become a teacher,” she said.
Gabby, who will study business and communications in college, said every day of the season was special because of the girls on the team.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better group of girls to be able to make these memories with,” she said.
As for the new coach, she said, “He made it a really fun senior year and I really couldn’t have asked for anything more … I’m happy to say I was on his first Aptos team.”
She said he “did everything differently — we had a whole new system — but that’s to be expected with a new coach…He did it his way and it was effective. It got us to where we got this year.”
For her, there were no surprises.
“Our season went the way we wanted it to, for the most part, and we accomplished what we wanted,” she said. “Along the way, each time we achieved one of our goals, we knew that it was due to our hard work.”