ATHERTON, CA – Following special pregame Senior Day ceremony honoring guards Jayonnah Carter, Laila Saenz, Alberte Frisch, and forward Frida Schmidt, Menlo Women's Basketball authored a truly memorable second half with plenty of friends and family cheering them on inside Haynes-Prim Pavilion. The Oaks rallied all the way back from a 21-point halftime deficit, shifting momentum with a big third quarter then strongly closing the Pacific West Conference rematch with the standings leader Vanguard in front 57-54 on Saturday.

Oaks Highlights
 -Alberte Frisch dropped a game-high 18 points with four rebounds, three assists, and two steals
-Filling up the stat sheet, Jayonnah Carter delivered 12 points, five rebounds, four assists, and four steals
-Each with eight points and six rebounds, the tandem of Zoe Carrillo and Kimberly Ceron-Romero provided valuable hustle

Menlo Outscores Lions 36-12 In Lockdown Second Half
The first six plus minutes were dominated by Vanguard's 20-3 start, but three layups by redshirt freshman guard/forward Kimberly Ceron-Romero breathed life into Menlo during an 8-3 push to end the opening quarter. Despite Ceron-Romero free throws and a 3-pointer by Carter late, the Lions' seventh triple ended the first half with the visitors in front 42-21.

To begin the third quarter, the first 10 points belonged to the Oaks as Carter and Frisch each knocked down triples then Saenz added a jumper to continue the fitting Senior Day sequence. Menlo had halved the lead to that point and the home side was far from finished as the third frame ended on an 8-2 run all on baskets by the senior class once again.

"[At halftime], we were told: 'Play hard and have fun – it's the last game and we had nothing to lose so go out hard," Carter said. "The energy from the gym and my teammates made me just keep going."

A jolt of offense opened the final quarter with Saenz hitting from long range on back-to-back possessions to make it a one-point game at 49-48 with eight minutes left. During an ensuing 9-0 burst that featured a pair of layups by sophomore forward Zoe Carrillo, the Oaks grabbed their first lead of the contest and did not let go en route to the 57-54 exclamation mark on the 2025-26 season.

"I hope my teammates carry this into next year and just keep the energy flowing – they are the reason we won," Carter said.

Season In Review
Menlo's 17th campaign under Head Coach Shannon Spataro saw the Oaks finish 13-14 overall and 11-11 in PacWest play, just missing the conference tournament by one game. The Oaks earned nine victories inside Haynes-Prim Pavilion including the second of back-to-back overtime wins over Biola in the span of a week.

The 2025-26 campaign was highlighted by multiple individual achievements as senior guards Alberte Frisch and Jayonnah Carter were named PacWest Player and Defender of the Week, Zoe Carrillo added a PacWest Defender of the Week honor, and graduate student guard Laila Saenz was also recognized as PacWest Player of the Week. Additional milestones included Frisch scoring her 1,000th career point and Spataro earning her 300th career victory.