Berkeley’s Rachel Howard (on the right) is a state stat star for this week. Her teammate, Jaiamoni Welch-Coleman, (on the left) is one of NorCal’s top sophomore point guards. Photo by Harold Abend.
By Mark Tennis & Paul Muyskens with contribution by Bob Barnett.
We collect these highlights in support of the Cal-Hi Sports state record book, which is the exclusive home for state records and has been published seven times since 1980.
These highlights are for games played mostly from Jan. 22 to Jan. 26 with some performances from this week.
To send in a stat star of your own, email highlights to markjtennis@gmail.com.
For game reports, please go to our twitter page @CalHiSports and for other updates please visit our Facebook page.
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BOYS BASKETBALL
Josh Armstrong (Fountain Valley)
The Barons clinched a Sunset League title with a victory last week over Los Alamitos and in the title-clinching win it was Armstrong who shined the most with 29 points, eight assists and seven rebounds.
Ryan Bald (Del Mar, San Jose)
Players from Mt. Pleasant of San Jose had to be going bald pulling out their hair trying to figure out how to stop Ryan as he scored 46 points for the Dons in leading them to a 73-67 win. Bald made seven 3-pointers to help him score so many points.
Morgan Bennett-Smith (Sacramento Country Day)
Here’s a weird one. Morgan rampaged for 53 points in Sacramento Country Day’s game last week against Valley Christian of Roseville and no one from Valley Christian scored more than 17. Morgan’s team still lost 115-94. Six players from the winning side has 12 points or more.
Danny Cabrera (Surprise Valley, Cedarville)
The reported CIF Northern Section scoring leader racked up 34 points but it wasn’t enough in a 73-59 loss to Butte Valley of Dorris.
Henry Caruso (Serra, San Mateo)
He scored a career-high 35 points as the Padres defeated Bellarmine of San Jose 62-52 in West Catholic Athletic League action. He also had 20 points and 10 rebounds last Saturday when Serra snapped Archbishop Mitty’s 24-game WCAL win streak.
Austin Clyde (Del Norte, Poway)
It was a good week for Clyde and the Nighthawks as they won twice and moved to 5-1 in the CIF San Diego Section’s Valley League. He first scored 34 points in a win against Oceanside. The junior guard then had 24 in a triumph over Orange Glen of Escondido.
Kenjonna Evans (Castlemont, Oakland)
During a 67-64 win over Oakland last week, he scored 41 points for the Knights and grabbed 10 rebounds to go with six assists.
Aaron Holiday (Campbell Hall, North Hollywood)
Earlier this week, the big-time sophomore and brother of NBA star Jrue Holiday erupted for one of his best outings of the season so far with 48 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Vikings past Viewpoint of Calabasas 87-69.
Braxton Huggins (Mira Monte, Bakersfield)
The junior standout scored 35 points in a 68-60 losing effort 68-60 against Ridgeview of Bakersfield. Braxton came back with 30 points in a 51-36 win over Golden Valley.
Leland King (Brentwood, Los Angeles)
Although the Eagles dropped an overtime thriller to Campbell Hall 83-78, King still had a terrific night with 37 points. In his other outing from last week, King had 30 points and 17 rebounds to lead Brentwood past Viewpoint of Calabasas 60-47.
Jeremy Lieberman (Calabasas)
The standout junior guard had 29 points for the Coyotes when they clawed past Moorpark 72-53. His more amazing outing of the week, though, was when he had 23 points (including 12-of-13 on free throws) in a more low-scoring 49-46 win over Thousand Oaks. In that game, Thousand Oaks led by 20 points and was up by seven with 21 seconds left. Lieberman mad a 3-pointer with seven seconds left to tie and then hit two free throws for the win when Thousand Oaks was called for a technical foul.
Michael Meserole (Liberty Ranch, Galt)
In a 71-61 triumph over El Dorado of Placerville, Meserole was on a roll and racked up totals of 38 points and eight rebounds.
Tyler Milani (Woodcreek, Roseville)
A 29-point game often isn’t enough for this feature, but Tyler had his 29 points in one of most bizarre contests of the season. The game between Woodcreek and Roseville began at Woodcreek, but had to be moved when too much baby powder was strewn on the court in a LeBron James-inspired stunt. It ended at Roseville and despite Milani scoring 29 points the Timberwolves lost 87-71.
Cameron Moses (Dublin)
Along with teammate and recent stat star Joe McGlaston, Moses is another reason why the Gaels have been averaging 83 points per game in league game. Cameron, a guard, scored 28 points and had 10 rebounds as Dublin defeated Acalanes of Lafayette in a Diablo Foothill Athletic League contest. Moses backed that effort with a 21-point, six-rebound and five-assist stat line against Las Lomas of Walnut Creek.
Mamadou Ndiaye (Brethren Christian, Huntington Beach)
The 7-foot-5 center was the talk of the Nike Extravaganza (although he does not talk to the media) when he had 34 points and 26 rebounds to lead his small-school team to a 50-34 win over Servite of Anaheim (from a big-time league). Ndiaye also had 34 points and 16 rebounds when Brethren Christian defeated Whitney of Cerritos.
Andre Nikita (El Cajon Valley, El Cajon)
Among the state leaders all season, Nikita maintained his scoring average with a 38-point output for the Braves when then defeated Granite Hills of El Cajon 69-54.
Brandon Nunn (Grant, Sacramento)
He led the Pacers to a 90-80 shootout triumph against Davis by pumping in a game-high 34 points.
Khleem Perkins (San Bernardino)
From a player who gave us a 55-point outburst from earlier in the season, Khleem helped the Cardinals cream Arroyo Valley 62-51 last week by scoring 35 points.
Hector Rangel (Shandon)
Here’s one from the Central Coast region of the state as Rangel was ringing up buckets all night in Shandon’s 70-52 victory vs. Cuyama Valley. He finished with 50 points.
Deshon Taylor (J.W. North, Riverside)
The junior guard had 31 points to lead the Huskies to an important 57-49 triumph at Rancho Verde of Moreno Valley. Taylor, who attended Rancho Verde for his freshman year, is having a sensational season for long-time coach Mike Bartee, who won his 600th game on Wednesday night.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Halie Bergman (Turlock Christian)
The University of Pacific signer gobbled up 14 steals to go with 34 points during her team’s 74-23 triumph against Gustine.
Imari Brown (Duarte)
She had two strong outings on the week for the Falcons. First, it was 39 points with nine rebounds, eight steals and seven assists in a 74-68 loss to Workman (City of Industry). Brown then came back to collect a triple-double 17 points, 11 assists, 10 rebounds and eight steals as Duarte beat La Puente 66-23.
Alexis Casillas (Beckman, Irvine)
She led the Patriots past Northwood of Irvine 58-52 in a Pacific Coast League matchup with 39 points and 15 rebounds.
Irene Chavez (Gunderson, San Jose)
Among the top scorers in the CIF Central Coast Section for the last three seasons, Chavez had 33 points for the Grizzlies when they topped Leigh of San Jose 63-53.
Jessica Curl (Red Bluff)
The 6-foot-2 junior dominated the paint with 18 points, 27 rebounds and seven blocked shots in a 51-41 win against Chester.
Rachel Howard (Berkeley)
It hasn’t been the usual season of dominance for the Yellowjackets, but they’ll still be in the hunt for all the marbles in the CIF North Coast Section Division I playoffs and have Howard still on board to lead the attack. She had 26 points and 11 rebounds when Berkeley beat Arroyo of San Lorenzo 65-48 last week and also had 24 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists in a 72-32 victory against Hayward.
Ashley Kelsick (Highland, Palmdale)
The buckets continue to rain down for Kelsick in Golden League competition. She had 49 points and 11 rebounds last week in a 65-21 victory vs. Littlerock, then came back later in the week for 41 points and 12 rebounds when Highland beat Eastside of Lancaster 80-52.
Lexi Kinkle (Capistrano Valley Christian, SJ Capistrano)
Kinkle made the opposition at Connolly of Anaheim crinkle with a triple-double 10 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, leading CVC to a 53-23 triumph.
Aarion McDonald (Bullard, Fresno)
The freshman standout scored 30 points, the seventh time this season she as scored more than 30 points for one game, as the Knights beat Madera 93-21. McDonald also had 34 points last week in a 56-51 loss to Edison of Fresno.
Kelsey Plum (La Jolla Country Day)
The big-time talent headed to Washington already has a 33-point, 17-rebound outing from this week in a win by the Torreys over Horizon of San Diego. Last week, Plum had 28 points and 29 in triumphs against Santa Fe Christian of Solana Beach and Bishop’s of La Jolla.
Madison Price (Mesa Grande, Calimesa)
Top player for team that has been in the D5 state rankings all season dominated with 27 points, 10 rebounds and eight steals in a 67-8 romp past Desert Chapel of Palm Springs.
Alyssa Ramos (Tri-City Christian, Vista)
She had 34 points for her team in a 63-30 victory over Rock Academy of San Diego. Still, that wasn’t the best of the week for Ramos as she came back to hit for 43 in a 77-27 win against Escondido Charter.
Courtney Range (Manteca)
Her team needed every one of her 26 points (including some clutch free throws down the stretch) in a 48-47 Valley Oak League showdown win against Kimball of Tracy. Range also had 25 rebounds in the same game.
Karlie Samuelson (Mater Dei, Santa Ana)
She and sister Katie Lou will be setting a lot of records for the Monarchs over the next two seasons. Karlie got one – a school record – by nailing nine 3-pointers to help her score 31 points in a 70-33 win last week over Santa Margarita.
Brittany Sims (Edison, Fresno)
She led the Tigers with 24 points, including 12 of the team’s 14 in the fourth quarter, in a crucial 56-51 win over Bullard of Fresno. Brittany then came back in the second game of the week to score a career-high of 36 points, which is tied for the fifth best in school history, and had 16 rebounds in a 93-21 win over Sanger.
Kayla Stockton (Santa Paula)
A grind-it-out 42-40 triumph by her team over Bishop Diego of Santa Barbara featured Kayla with 19 points and 19 rebounds.
Tiara Tucker (Brookside Christian, Stockton)
Her ridiculous scoring is down, but the totals are still noteworthy and Brookside is still rolling to mostly easy wins when not playing top state-ranked competition like Bishop O’Dowd and St. Mary’s of Berkeley. Tucker had 28 points in a 76-45 win last week against Pleasant Grove of Elk Grove and earlier this week had 43 when the Knights defeated Millenium of Tracy 91-10.
