Prep Basketball Playoffs : Susan Peters Scores 32 and Los Altos Beats Capistrano Valley, 54-46

Susan Peters scored 32 points and had 14 rebounds to lead Los Altos High School to a 54-46 victory over Capistrano Valley in a Southern Section 3-A girls’ semifinal basketball game Tuesday night at El Toro High.

Los Altos (20-3) will play Palos Verdes (23-8), a 45-41 winner over El Toro Tuesday, in the 3-A final Friday at Cal Poly Pomona.

The score was tied, 10-10, after one quarter, but Peters scored 13 of Los Altos’ 17 second-quarter points to give Los Altos a 27-20 halftime lead and the momentum to stay ahead the rest of the game.

Peters, a 5-foot 11-inch junior center, said she was not trying to do most of the scoring.

“It just worked out that way,” she said. “Susan (Sussoev) did a great job outside to open things up a little.”

Sussoev, a senior forward, scored eight points, had eight rebounds and seven assists. But her real value was in shutting down Capistrano Valley’s Heather Schoeny .

Schoeny, who averaged 18.2 points a game during the season and 33 during the playoffs, was held to 7 points--all in the first half.

“I was off,” Schoeny said. “Their defense was good, but I should’ve been able to do more. (The loss is) hard to handle knowing I played a bad game.”

Capistrano Valley Coach Stan DeMaggio agreed.

“Their defense took Heather out of our game,” he said. “They took her out of her game.”

Schoeny could only walk through practice because of an infected heel, and DeMaggio was not sure if she would be able to play. She started the game and showed no ill-effects.

“She means as much to our team as Peters does to (Los Altos),” DeMaggio said before the game. But Peters had the better night.

Peters made 11 of 15 shots from the field (73%) and converted 10 of 13 free-throw attempts (76%). As a team, Los Altos made its first 14 free-throw attempts before Peters missed four in a row in the fourth quarter.

Capistrano Valley was led by junior center Holly Anderson, who scored 13 points and had 11 rebounds. Junior forward Shelley Zierhut added 14 points.