Marin Catholic advanced to Saturday’s NCS D-II semifinals with a 61-58 home victory over No. 6 McKinleyville on Wednesday. The 11th-seeded Wildcats (15-14) rallied from an 11-point deficit in the third quarter to tie the game at 46 apiece.

Joe Hammond paced Marin Catholic with 16 points, five assists and five steals, while Dom Hammond had two assists and five steals. Henry Dibble finished with 11 points. Oliver Myers had nine points and Jack Herman added seven off the bench. The Wildcats will face either No. 3 Saint Mary’s or No. 14 Heritage in Saturday’s quarterfinals.

• Gavin Early returns to duty with a 20-point night to lead San Domenico past Castro Valley, 66-49, in Tuesday’s NCS D-III opener. The No. 2 Panthers (21-8) came out firing and led 20-9 after the first quarter and never looked back. San Domencio connected on 11 3-pointers and led by as many as 20 points. Early also grabbed nine rebounds, while Kris Jakstas chipped in 16 points, including three 3-pointers. San Domenico is scheduled to host No. 7 College Park on Friday.

• Juniors Chase Roberston and NJ Gray scored 14 points each as No. 1 Branson beat No. 16 Freedom, 64-42, in the opening round of the NCS D-III playoffs Tuesday. Sophomore Heath French added 12 points and senior Tom Lardner had 11 for the Bulls (18-10). Branson is scheduled to host No. 8 Livermore on Friday at College of Marin.

• The possibility of another showdown between Redwood and Archie Williams vanished as the No. 10 Peregrine Falcons lost to No. 7 Acalanes, 78-68, in Tuesday’s first round of the NCS D-I playoffs. Had the Falcons (18-9) won, they would have faced Redwood in the second round. James Butler tied the game at 25 apiece with a free throw in the second quarter, but the Dons led the rest of the game.

• No. 9 San Marin fell to No. 8 Livermore, 71-61, in Tuesday’s NCS D-III action. Had the Mustangs (14-13) won, they would have faced No. 1 Branson in an all-MCAL quarterfinal. The Mustangs beat Branson, 79-72, in the regular season. JD Rhodes scored a team-high 15 points for the Mustangs, while Grant Means added 14 and Zack Farbstein had 12. Rio Seiler and Miller Morgan had 10 points each.

Girls basketball

Novato High, making its first NCS appearance since the 2017-18 season, lost Wednesday to No. 4 Rancho Cotate, 58-35, in the NCS D-iV opener. Senior Claire Hannan scored a team-high 14 points to go with five rebounds during a solid evening for the No. 13 Hornets (13-12). Ariana Plascencia added 11 points and four rebounds for the Hornets.

• No. 10 Marin Academy lost a close road battle with No. 7 Las Lomas, 37-32, in Wednesday’s NCS D-IV opener. The Wildcats l15-12) led 31-25 in the fourth quarter before the Knights went on a 10-0 run.

• Avery Myerberg scored 28 points to lead No. 4 Branson to a 50-38 victory against No. 13 Antioch at Novato High in the NCS D-III playoffs on Tuesday night. Alyssa Huang made a pair of 3-pointers and scored 10 points for the Bulls. Kate Spaulding added eight points. Branson (16-12) hosts No. 5 Dougherty Valley (19-10) at College of Marin on Friday.

• Carly Amborn and Tosia Konczak scored 20 points apiece to power No. 8 San Domenico to a 51-47 home win against No. 9 Benicia (17-10) in the D-III playoffs on Tuesday. Amahji Cook scored seven points, including four late in the game to help the Panthers (17-16) retake the lead. San Domenico moves on to the quarterfinals against top-seeded St. Bernard’s (27-2) on Friday. If both San Domenico and Branson win on Friday, they’d face each other in the semifinals next week.

• Brooke Denler and Maya Saibel led a balanced scoring effort for Redwood in a 63-45 victory against No. 11 Freedom in the D-I playoffs on Tuesday. The No. 6 Giants (21-9) advance to Friday’s quarterfinals against either No. 3 Arcata or No. 14 Montgomery. Kitty White added 10 points for Redwood, Rachel Towns had nine, Drew Schultz scored eight, and Hindi Copeland added six.

• No. 7 San Marin was ousted by No. 10 Alameda, 67-32, in the first round of the NCS D-I playoffs Tuesday. The cold-shooting Mustangs trailed 32-18 after the first half, before the Hornets (17-10) went on an 8-0 run to put the game away.

Quincy Dean finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Mustangs (21-8). Angela Stickle had six points.