It was not the night of celebration that Rancho Cotate was hoping for Friday at Montgomery High School.

Both the boys and girls basketball teams, trying to win their first North Coast Section titles in program history, came up short in their Division 4 championship battles — the boys falling to Mission San Jose and the girls to Branson.

It’s the first section title in program history for Mission San Jose, which forced 20 turnovers and rallied from a double-digit deficit for a 46-40 win.

It’s the second section title in five years for Branson, which went up big early and then held off a late comeback effort in a 44-36 victory.

Despite the losses, both Rancho Cotate teams will advance to play in the CIF state Northern California playoffs this coming week for the first time in program history.

Here’s a closer look at Friday’s doubleheader.

Boys

Fourth-seeded Mission San Jose trailed by as much as 13 in the first half before rallying behind its defense and a heroic effort down the stretch from senior forward Joseph Standfield.

Standfield, who’s played sparingly this season due to injury, scored 11 of his game-high 23 points in the fourth quarter to help the Warriors (20-10) take a lead and never look back in the fourth quarter.

He gave the Warriors their first lead of the game on a midrange jumper late in the third and then ultimately helped them separate for good with a straightaway three-pointer to push their lead to 42-37 with 1:20 to play. He finished off his big night with some clutch free throws in the final minute to seal the victory.

The six-point win is the largest of the postseason for the Warriors. They defeated No. 12 seed Tamalpais 57-52 in the first round, No. 5 seed Bethel 55-52 in the quarterfinals and top seed San Marin 49-45 in the semis.

Rancho Cotate leapt out to a quick 14-6 lead after the first quarter and led by as much as 13 early in the second, but turnovers helped the Warriors get back in the game. They rattled off a 9-0 run in the final 3:30 of the second quarter, fueled by seven Cougars turnovers, to cut the deficit to 23-22 by halftime.

The Cougars committed 20 turnovers on the night, the second-highest total they’ve had in a game all season.

Turnovers cost them dearly in the third quarter and they went scoreless for more than six minutes before a late bucket by Izayah Rush, who finished with 12 points and 15 rebounds, put them back on top 30-29 heading to the fourth.

Luke Morie, who scored a team-high 14 points, had the first seven points of the fourth for the Cougars to put them back up 37-35 with just under four minutes left, but the Warriors responded with a 7-0 run, capped by the three from Standfield, to go back on top for good.

Jordan Alvarez, who hit four threes en route to 12 points, hit a three with just under a minute left to pull the Cougars back to 43-40, but they were unable to convert several close-range looks in the following possession.

“Defensively, in the first quarter I thought we were defending great,” first-year Rancho Cotate head coach James Slade said. “We were sticking to the game plan and then we got tight, sped up a little bit on the offensive end, and then I felt like that transitioned into our defensive end. … Kind of just on both ends. I always talk about how our defense leads to our offense. On one end, we weren’t scoring and that kind of fed into our defensive mishaps.”

While the result is disappointing for the Cougars, Slade was quick to point out that this group still made history as the first team in program history to even reach a section title game.

“No one in the county thought that we would be wearing that second-place medal,” he said. “No one thought that we would be here. People can say it’s Division 4, but we beat some good teams to get to where we are.”

More history is on the horizon for the Cougars as they’ll begin their first-ever foray into the NorCal playoffs. Seedings will be released Sunday.

“We can be upset about this and we can think about it over the weekend, but on Monday we’re flipping the page,” Slade said. “We have something else to look forward to and it’s going to be fun.”

Girls

The Cougars fell behind big early and while they were able to make things interesting in the second half, the gap was too wide to close as Branson hung on, led by a big night from sophomore guard Kate Spaulding.

Spaulding finished the night with 17 points, five steals, five rebounds and four assists as she guided Branson (20-12) to its 12th section title in school history and first since 2022.

The Cougars (16-13) displayed some impressive emotional toughness as they battled back in the second half following a scary scene involving one of their own just before halftime.

Senior guard Sierra Wilmes went down hard after drawing contact going to the basket and remained down for several minutes. The game was brought to a halt for an extended period as medical personnel were called to the school. Wilmes left the game on a stretcher.

First-year Rancho Cotate head coach Paulina Ceja said after the game that Wilmes was showing signs of improvement at the hospital.

The Cougars trailed 26-11 at halftime and were down by as much as 17 early in the third quarter before a furious rally got them back in the game.

They rattled off a 12-0 run, capped by consecutive threes from Ella O’Brien and Isabella Ellison with under two minutes left in the quarter, to cut the deficit to just five and ignite the Rancho Cotate faithful in attendance.

But Spaulding closed the quarter with a timely bucket to put the Bulls back ahead 32-25 heading to the fourth quarter. Their lead wouldn’t drop below seven for the rest of the game.

“I’m incredibly proud of those girls,” Ceja said of her players. “Doing what they did in the third quarter, coming back and winning the quarter after what happened to Sierra and watching their best friend get taken to the hospital, I think shows an incredible amount of emotional maturity and the togetherness that this team has.”

Ellison paced the Cougars in scoring with 17 points and grabbed six rebounds, while O’Brien added eight points and nine rebounds and Isabella Scardina chipped in nine rebounds, two blocks and four steals.

Like the boys, Friday was the first time the Cougars have even made a section title game. Their season will also continue in NorCals, another first in program history.

“I wanted to start a program where girls felt like they had a home and they felt like they had a family,” Ceja said. “I think through that, through the togetherness and loving each other, we’ve gotten better and we’ve won games and it’s kind of been a byproduct of the togetherness and the family we are. No way did we ever think we were going to be here, but, man, I couldn’t be more proud of them today.”