MENLO SCHOOL • SINCE 1915

Upper School

Basketball - Girls Varsity

About the Team

The girls’ basketball team won its fourth consecutive CCS Championship—its longest streak since 2013-2015. Menlo advanced to the second round of the 2025 NorCals, falling only to the eventual state champion. Two Knights, Karen Xin ’25 and Ruiqi Liu ’25, joined Menlo’s 1,000-point club while also breaking into the record books: Xin for three-point goals made and total points, and Liu for rebounds and total points.

After landing their first CCS Championship in five seasons, the Menlo girls’ basketball team advanced to the NorCal Div. II semifinals in 2022. The section Div. IV champion Knights finished the season with an 18-8 mark. The Knights followed up as back-to-back CCS Div. IV champions in 2023 and won three NorCal match-ups to earn a trip to the NorCal Div. IV Championship. In a repeat, the Menlo girls’ basketball team made it three section titles in a row and first under new coach Ryan Cooper.

Menlo has established itself as a perennial playoff contender. In 2017-18, the Knights returned to the top-tier CCS Open Division playoffs. In 2015-2016, Menlo earned its first CCS Open Division bid in school history, and its highest finish in a quarter-century by advancing to the CIF Div. IV NorCal final. Three seasons earlier, Menlo claimed its first CCS championship since 1995, touching off a three-year run during which the Knights won the section Div. I V title.

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The Coach

Ryan Cooper (Third Season)

Ryan Cooper came to Menlo School with a wealth of coaching experience at the high school, collegiate and youth levels. He has coached collegiately at San Jose State as a men’s basketball assistant coach, as the head men’s basketball coach at Notre Dame de Namur, and most recently as an associate coach for the San Jose State women’s basketball team.

Cooper has previously coached boys basketball at Del Mar, Oak Grove and Valley Christian high schools.

At Menlo, he leads a sixth-grade Health and Wellness group “Live Respect.”

Current Team Schedule


 
Team Results Archive

Basketball News

Honors & Awards

State Champions

1989, 1990, 1991, 2019

NorCal Champions

1989, 1990, 1991, 2019

CCS Champions

1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025

CCS Championship Open qualifiers

2016, 2018, 2019

League Champions

1990, 1991, 2009

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Coaches

Head coach: John Paye  ’83 (22nd season)
Assistant coaches:  Drea Hernandez, Malloy Hester, Bob Meade, Melanie Murphy

Girls’ basketball summer camps 2023

Titles and Championships

State champions

1989, 1990, 1991, 2019

NorCal champions

1989, 1990, 1991, 2019

CCS champions

1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2022, 2023

CCS Open qualifier

2016, 2018, 2019

League champions

1990, 1991, 2009

About the Team

After landing their first CCS Championship since 2017, the Menlo girls advanced to the NorCal Div. II semifinals in 2022. The section Div. IV champion Knights, behind their five seniors, finished the season with an 18-8 mark. 

The Menlo School girls’ basketball program has established itself as a perennial playoff contender. In  2017-18, the Knights returned to the top-tier CCS Open Division playoffs. In 2015-2016, Menlo earned its first CCS Open Division bid in school history, and its highest finish in a quarter-century by advancing to the CIF Div. IV NorCal final. Three seasons earlier, Menlo claimed its first CCS championship since 1995, touching off a three-year run during which the Knights won the section Div. I V title. In his first stint as head coach, John Paye coached Menlo to three consecutive (1989-1991) Div. V state titles.

About the Coach

John Paye (22nd season)

A 1983 Menlo graduate, Paye lettered in baseball, basketball, and football. As a senior, he was named USA Today’s National Player of the Year - Offense. That same school year, Menlo won the California Interscholastic Federation Div. II state basketball championship. Paye was drafted out of high school by the San Francisco Giants but opted to continue his athletic career at Stanford. There, he became the starting quarterback and point guard in his freshman year, making him the last NCAA Div. I athlete to start in both football and basketball as a freshman. Paye was selected in the 10th round of the 1987 NFL draft by the San Francisco 49ers and earned a ring at Super Bowl XXIII. After leaving football, he returned to Menlo as the head coach of the girls’ varsity basketball team, where he led his sister and future Stanford and WNBA star, Kate ’91. Paye is a Hall of Famer for Menlo School, Stanford, and San Mateo County.