PIEDMONT >> Kool and the Gang’s classic song blared through the speakers in Piedmont High School’s gym. It was indeed a “Celebration” for the Highlanders, who survived a scare Thursday from visiting San Joaquin Memorial.

Well, it was a celebration for everybody but Janelle Solis.

The star freshman lifted the glasses off her face and remained “Kool” as she calmly walked to the Piedmont bench, high-fived her teammates and lined up to acknowledge the Panthers.

The ninth-seeded Highlanders narrowly avoided becoming No. 16 San Joaquin Memorial’s latest victims. The Panthers knocked off the No. 1 seed on Tuesday, but their Cinderella run ended when the Highlanders held them to nine points over the final 6:40 in a 62-60 win.

Solis finished with 17 points, making 7 of 13 shots from the field, and six assists. Still, after the game, she wasn’t bathing in victory. She’s too aware of the road left ahead.

Next up is the No. 4 St. Mary’s Rams, today at 7 p.m. in Stockton.

“I know I have to stay calm in order for our team to succeed,” Solis said. “So I just keep pushing through any adversity. Job’s not done. We need to keep working.”

Andrea Martin led Piedmont with 22 points and seven rebounds. Briana Webb added 16 points and eight rebounds.

With the Highlanders’ big three doing the bulk of the scoring, a few defensive plays late in the fourth quarter by Martin and Webb made a big difference. The most important play was Webb’s block of Panthers captain Sienna Evans — who scored a game-high 29 points — at the top of the arc with 1:15 to go in the game. Martin had two steals in the last 4 minutes to quell San Joaquin Memorial’s momentum.

Milpitas boys upset in Division II >> Clovis East went into the packed Milpitas gym and left a couple hours after the opening tip with a 73-45 blowout victory to end Milpitas’ breakthrough season.

“They were deep and they shot it real well,’’ Milpitas coach Champ Wrencher said. “They had the better offensive players. We didn’t have an answer for them.”

Milpitas (24-5) was seeded No. 2 in the Division II regional after capturing the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division championship and winning two games against West Catholic Athletic League opponents in the Central Coast Section Open Division playoffs.

Milpitas jumped to a 9-2 lead before Clovis East (21-10) regrouped and made it 15-15 by the end of the first quarter. The visitors closed the half on an 8-0 run to make it 31-23. Milpitas never recovered.

Jacob Wrencher led Milpitas with 18 points.

“Our guys had a great season, a beautiful run, made history,’’ coach Champ Wrencher said. “It was fun. I’m proud they let me be a part of it, let me push them to their limits and accomplish something they didn’t have on their radar.’’

Moreau Catholic’s magical run comes to an end >> There were no late-game heroics for No. 11 Moreau Catholic, which was no match for a physical and scrappy Lincoln-Stockton team in a 69-45 blowout at home in the second round of the Division I playoffs.

In the previous five days, Moreau defeated Cardinal Newman in the North Section Division II championship game and Dougherty Valley in the first round of NorCals in crazy comebacks that went down to the wire. Coach Frank Knight said the emotional toll of those games hit Moreau leading up to Thursday’s game.

“We’re definitely tired,” said Knight, whose team trailed 35-24 at halftime. “Anytime you’re an underdog and you’re outkicking your coverage, it weighs on you.

Lincoln held Moreau star and University of the Pacific-bound senior Kellen Hampton to just three points, two days after he scored 43 to lift Moreau over Dougherty Valley. Jalen Arnold and Isaiah Clendinen each had 10 points to lead Moreau.

CLAYTON VALLEY STUNS NO. 1 ROCKLIN >> While most would consider eighth-seeded Clayton Valley upsetting No. 1 seed Rocklin on the road Thursday night a shocker, Frank Allocco Jr. didn’t think so.

“I wouldn’t call it an upset, but I get the seeding was what it was,” the Clayton Valley coach said. “We knew it was going to be tough going in, and I’m just so proud of our guys.”

Clayton Valley guard Elijah Perryman scored a game-high 27 points to lead Clayton Valley to a 68-54 road win in the second round of the NorCal Division II playoffs.

Rocklin, a team that averages just more than 67 points per game, was thoroughly shut down by Clayton Valley’s defense, which allowed just five points in the second quarter.

Clayton Valley has been rolling since Perryman, a Utah State commit, returned to the lineup on Feb. 6 from a foot injury. The Concord school is 8-2 since then and won the Diablo Athletic League championship a couple of weeks ago.

Clayton Valley will return to Sacramento today to play No. 5 Destiny Christian. When the teams met in early December at the Gridley Invitational, Clayton Valley lost 46-40 and Perryman suffered a first-quarter injury that sidelined him for two months.

DIXON DOES IT ALL FOR CARONDELET >> Unlike last season’s gripping girls game between Bishop O’Dowd and Carondelet, which saw guard Devin Cosgriff break Carondelet’s heart with a last-second jump shot to win the NorCal Division I title 48-47, the rematch had no such drama.

Third-seeded Carondelet won 54-37 in a NorCal Division I quarterfinal.

Junior Layla Dixon scored 11 points, blocked four shots, was a force on the boards and often brought the ball up as the team’s point guard despite standing 6-foot-2.

Olivia Smith and Janel Nevares scored 13 points each for the Cougars.

Madison Gordon led O’Dowd with 13 points and Jayla Stokes had 12.

Carondelet is familiar with its next opponent, seventh-seeded Cardinal Newman. Carondelet beat the Santa Rosa powerhouse 72-58 in a North Coast Section Open Division third-place game last week.

ST. IGNATIUS BOYS UPSET NO. 2 SEED BUCHANAN >> St. Ignatius upset second-seeded Buchanan-Clovis 55-52 behind 17 points from Shawn Boquiren, 12 from Vince Crisp and eight from Alex Moore.

The victory sends 10th-seeded SI to the Division I semifinals tonight at Lincoln-Stockton, which beat the Wildcats 72-61 on Dec. 26 and ended Moreau Catholic’s playoff run with a 69-45 win on Thursday.

“We went down to their place three years ago in the NorCal playoffs and they sent us home,” Lincoln coach Anthony Matthews said. “I know they got revenge on their mind for this year.”

SAN RAMON VALLEY PUTS UP 101 >> Led by Luke Isaak’s 37 points in just three quarters, San Ramon Valley lit up the scoreboard in routing Liberty 101-62 to advance to today’s NorCal Division I semifinals at home against Oakland Tech.

Monte Vista, SRV’s crosstown rival, hosted the game because of a scheduling conflict at the Wolves’ gym, but it didn’t matter.

“As much as we love our gym,” SRV coach Brian Botteen said. “I think some of the guys were kind of joking, saying we should play back here on Saturday night now that we have another home game.”

SALESIAN GIRLS PULL OFF D-II UPSET >> Sixth-seeded Salesian traveled to third-seeded Colfax and returned to the Bay Area with a 53-51 victory.

Janiya Sawyer led the way for the Pride with 18 points, and Vanessa Parilla joined her in double figures with 11 points. The two combined for 12 rebounds and eight assists.

CALIFORNIA GIRLS ROLL INTO D-II SEMIFINALS >> Three California players scored in double figures in a 68-60 home win over Redwood, setting up a showdown at top-seeded Caruthers today in the Division II CIF NorCals. The Grizzlies (23-11) are the No. 5 seed.

Lauren Yee had 19 points and five assists, Sofie Addiego scored 17 points and added five steals, and Trinity Chu contributed 17 points.

FAST THIRD-QUARTER START LIFTS CARLMONT BOYS >> The Scots broke open a close game with a 12-3 run to start the third quarter in a 68-57 CIF NorCal D-III playoff win over University-San Francisco at Kezar Pavilion.

A tightly contested 28-24 game at intermission quickly became a 40-27 Carlmont lead. The Scots never led by fewer than eight points after that. They improved to 19-10 overall, and have won 18 or more games in each of the last four seasons.

Camden Ngo led three Carlmont scorers in double figures with 22 points. Franklin Kuo had 15 points and Jeremiah Phillips contributed 11.

PALO ALTO’S DEFENSE TOO MUCH FOR ENTERPRISE >> The sixth-seeded Palo Alto boys built a 33-16 halftime lead and coasted past Enterprise-Redding 54-38 in a D-III NorCal matchup.

It was the 12th time this season the Vikings (24-5) have held an opponent to fewer than 40 points. Palo Alto is 12-0 in those contests.

Jorell Clark scored 21 points to lead the Vikings. Hudson Mar had nine points, all on 3-pointers in the first half.

TOP SEED TKA WINS BIG AGAIN >> Matched up with Santa Cruz-area powerhouse Aptos, high-scoring The King’s Academy made it look easy as the Sunnyvale school cruised to a 73-36 victory. TKA outscored Aptos 23-6 in the first quarter and didn’t look back.

Claxton Ladine finished with a game-high 22 points, which included six 3-pointers. Karan Kolappa had 14 points, followed by Xavier Barnett with 13 and Caedmon Dickson with 11.

BERKELEY BOYS KEEP ROLLING >> The Yellowjackets are headed to the NorCal D-IV semifinals after going on the road and beating Palma 68-60 Thursday night. Few people would have predicted Berkeley getting this far when the postseason started.

Berkeley entered the NCS D-III playoffs with a 12-14 regular-season record. But the Yellowjackets advanced to the semifinals, then beat San Rafael in the third-place game, earning an invite to the NorCals.

Berkeley, seeded fifth in D-IV of the NorCals, beat Ripon Christian before taking on fourth-seeded Palma.

“We’re playing pretty good basketball,” Berkeley coach Mike Hudson said. “When you get hot toward the end of the season, anything can happen.”

Donte Joseph scored seven of his 15 points in the period to lead the way. Kavin Jivan also had 15 points. Kevon Newman had 13 points and Noah Miller added 10.

PRIORY BOYS STUN NATOMAS >> Things looked gloomy for the Panthers as the clock wound down in the fourth quarter. They trailed visiting Natomas-Sacramento by five points in the D-IV NorCal game.

Then Jai Gerrodette hit two 3-pointers, Kasten Eggers went for a layup and Mate Palotai dropped in a free throw. Suddenly, Priory was in front by four. A 3-pointer by Natomas at the end of the game didn’t mean much in the Panthers’ 66-65 victory.

Palotai had 20 points and Eggers 19 as Priory improved to 23-6.

HMB GIRLS HOLD OFF WEST CAMPUS >> Second-seeded Half Moon Bay advanced to the NorCal Division IV semifinals Thursday night with a 52-47 victory over seventh-seeded West Campus-Sacramento.

The Cougars built a 33-21 halftime advantage and then held on.

Delaney Dorwin, a senior guard, scored 18 points and junior center Zoey Lemoge added 15 points to lead HMB (21-7).

ENCINAL GIRLS CONTINUE TO CRUISE IN D-V >> The Encinal Jets soared past yet another overmatched NorCal Division V opponent, routing Orland 67-32 on Thursday in Alameda.

Jazzy Alcantar scored 17 points for the No. 4 seed Jets, who beat Argonaut 67-36 in the first round.

Surina Castro led Encinal (21-9)with 19 points.

Glenn Reeves, Nathan Canilao, Joseph Dycus, Darren Sabedra and Mike Lefkow contributed to this report.