Tyler Kessinger had 17 points, five rebounds and five assists, but the No. 4 seed UC Santa Cruz men’s basketball team lost to No. 1 Christopher Newport 81-73 in the Coast To Coast Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals at Kaiser Permanente Arena on Friday.

Christopher Newport (29-3) faces either No. 2 Mary Washington or 3 Salisbury in the championship at KP Arena on Saturday at noon. The tournament champion receives an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Ian McCloskey had 15 points, four rebounds, and four assists for UCSC (9-17), Avri Finch had 14 points and eight rebounds, and Eric DeBrine had 10 points and eight rebounds.UCSC trailed 44-30 at the half.

Jahn Hines had 31 points and four rebounds for the Captains, and Matthew Brodie had 13 points and five rebounds.

Girls wrestling

CIF State Championships >> Four of the five Santa Cruz County girls who qualified for the 2023 CIF State Championships were still competing in the consolation bracket midway through Day 2 of the three-day event at Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield on Friday.

Scotts Valley High junior wrestler Danica Kelley (121 pounds), the Central Coast Section champion, was pinned by Samantha Sachs of Glendora in 1:38 in the Round of 32, but rebounded in the Consolation Round of 16, where she earned a reversal and pin of Bailey Cathey of Liberty Ranch in 2:34, and pinned Isabelle Camarillo of Laguna Creek in 3:49.

Aptos junior Janie Houser (126), the CCS runner-up, pinned Lailanie Vongnakhone of Sanger in 3:05 in the Round of 32, but was pinned by Carissa Qureshi of Marina in 1:01 in the Round of 16. Houser eliminated Regina Seyfi of Burroughs with a 4-1 decision in the Consolation Round of 16.

Watsonville senior Danisha Nunez (101) earned a 4-2 decision over Savannah Talmadge of Northgate in the Round of 32, but was pinned by Olivia Lopez of Hamilton in 1:32 of the Round of 16. Nunez eliminated Josie Benitez of Kingsburg 3-2 in an ultimate tiebreaker in the Consolation Round of 16.

Scotts Valley junior Kayse Martinovsky (131) led Britny Morales of Foothill 7-4 in the second period, but Morales earned the takedown and pin in the Round of 32. Martinovsky eliminated Lana Nguyen of Dublin with a 10-4 decision in the Consolation Round of 16 and followed with a pin to eliminate Alexandra Argumosa of Santiago.

Santa Cruz senior Cynthia Rosales-Perez (170) went 0-2 and was eliminated She was pinned by Jocelyn Yepez of Paramount in 1:16 in the Round of 32 and was pinned by Viviana Martinez of Monroe in 4:15 in the Consolation Round of 16.

Surfing

SLO CAL Open at Morro Bay >> Santa Cruz’s Sam Coffey and Shaun Burns advanced to the Round of 32 at the World Surf League’s SLO CAL Open at Morro Bay, a 1,000-point Qualifying Series event.

In the Round of 64, Coffey won Heat 10 with a two-wave total of 10.65 on Friday, and Burns (10.00) took second to Canada’s Wheeler Hasburgh (12.70) in Heat 7 late Thursday.

In the Round of 32, Santa Cruz’s John Mel goes in Heat 2, Coffey goes in Heat 3, and Burns goes in Heat 5.

In the women’s competition, Santa Cruz’s Autumn Hays and Maddie Storrer advanced to the Round of 16.

Storrer won her heat in the Round of 40 with a 10.50 total, and placed second to Talia Swindal (11.25) in the Round of 32 with a 10.55 total. Hays (13.25) won her Round of 32 heat.

Hays and Storrer, Vela Mattive and Mia McLeish square off in Heat 1 of the Round of 16 when action resumes.

Santa Cruz’s Esme Brigham (5.45) took fourth in her Round of 32 heat and was eliminated. She finished tied for 25th overall.

High school baseball

Harbor 9, at North Monterey County 0 >> Julian Lopez had three hits and four RBI, and the Pirates won their season opener Thursday.

Winning pitcher Luke Hartel went four innings. He gave up one hit, one walk, and struck out six batters,

Colby Michaelis, Ferris Vitali and Carlos Cruz had two hits each for the Pirates (1-0), who host University from San Francisco on Saturday at noon.