SANTA CRUZ >> High school basketball fans, get ready for Aptos-Santa Cruz IV, this time with the Central Coast Section title on the line.

The No. 2 seeded Cardinals earned a repeat trip to the Division III championship game and a fourth meeting with their county rival with a 57-46 victory over No. 6 Burlingame on Thursday night.

No. 1 Aptos (24-4) defeated Sacred Heart Cathedral 65-43 in the other semifinal on Thursday night to help set up a fourth meeting against the Cardinals (16-11). The first three games, all Aptos wins, were settled by a total of 10 points, including a 43-41 decision in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic Conference Tournament championship on Feb. 15 at Cabrillo College.

“That’s what we shoot for every year. The standard here is pretty high. And that’s what we work for every year,” said coach Lawan Milhouse, of the Cardinals’ return to the championship game. “Everyone might have looked at our record and said ‘Santa Cruz, don’t know if they’re going to make it this year.’ The boys proved them wrong. It has nothing to do with coaches, we give them a game plan and they go out and execute it.”

The Cardinals won this one behind a 27-point effort from forward DeMarco Hunter, including 14 in the first half as Santa Cruz took a 24-14 lead. He also had 14 rebounds, 12 defensive, and seven blocked shots.

“I like playing both sides (of the court), it really helps the team,” said Hunter, a soft-spoken junior.

Or as Milhouse put it, “DeMarco’s Demarco. It doesn’t take a lot of science to figure out he’s our guy. And I told him he’s one of the best players left in our division, playing basketball. He dominated the game and he came out and did that.”

Count Burlingame coach David Lopez among those impressed.

“He’s a fantastic player,” he said. “I’m proud of my guys for battling. He had a lot of tough shots, so I take off my cap to them, they were the better team tonight.”

Milhouse appreciates Hunter’s devotion to the offensive and defensive sides of the game.

“If I could show you my text message, I told him, ‘I want you to dominate on both ends of the floor, to control the game on both ends of the floor,’ and he did that tonight,” the coach continued. “He just goes. This is why he plays basketball. He likes the big lights.”

Santa Cruz widened the lead to 40-27 by the end of the third quarter, behind six points by Hunter, including a slam dunk off a steal, and a pair of 3-point baskets from behind the free throw circle by sophomore L.J. Legan.

“Those are big shots, and he hit them both. That’s all we could ask for,” said Milhouse, of Legan. “He’s a shooter and that’s what we want him to do, he knocked down big shots tonight.”

Legan was the only other Cardinal with double figures. He scored 14 points.

“I thought a lot of the shots we usually make didn’t go down, I thought that was the difference, but Santa Cruz was better than us tonight,” Lopez said.

Burlingame (13-14), which defeated No. 3 seed Monterey 78-50 on Tuesday, was led by Marcus Taipa with 16 points. Jean-Luc Uharriet added 10 points.

Moments after Thursday’s win, Hunter’s thoughts turned toward the title game.

“It’s going to be good getting back in there, playing Aptos again. Hope we can get them in there too,” he said. “We’ve had some downs, but I think we can get them in this one. It will be a fun game.”

Girls

Mills 60, Santa Cruz 30 >> The No. 3 Cardinals were doubled up by the No. 2 Vikings in the CCS D-III semifinals on Thursday night, in a rematch of the 2024 section final as well as the teams’ ’25 season opener.

The Vikings, who are looking to repeat as champions, advance to a section final for the fourth time since 2020.

Mills (16-10), the fourth-place finisher in the Peninsula Athletic League’s Bay Division, faces No. 1 Notre Dame San Jose (12-9) for the title at Santa Clara High on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Santa Cruz (15-12), the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League runner-up, trailed 28-17 at the half.

Junior Karolina Espinosa, the Cardinals’ lone returning starter, scored a game-high 19 points. Teammate Brooke Alden chipped in with eight points.

Seniors Sofia Kwan and Kalyssa Chu each scored 13 points to pace the Vikings.

Summit Shasta 59, St. Francis 43 >> Freshman guard Liliana Whitmeyer made three 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 19 points, but the No. 3 Sharks coughed up the lead to the No. 2 Black Bears, the defending section champion, in the D-V semifinals on Thursday.

Sophomore guard Maya Calfee scored 10 points for the Sharks (22-3), the Pacific Coast Athletic League’s Cypress Division champion.

The Black Bears trailed 22-17 at the half, but outscored the Sharks 42-21 in the second half.

Senior guard Niesha Ramirez scored a game-high 27 points for the Black Bears (16-5), the Private School Athletic League’s Bay Division champion. Senior forward Shelby Tang scored all 12 of her points in the second half, and sophomore guard Chloe Macario scored 11 points.

Summit Shasta faces No. 1 Castilleja (20-3), the runner-up in the West Bay Athletic League’s Skyline Division, in the championship at Mission College in Santa Clara on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Sentinel sports editor Jim Seimas contributed to this report.