Two of this week’s honorees are junior Justin Davis of San Diego Morse and senior Ali Engelhardt of San Diego Mt. Carmel. Photos: Ronnie Flores/Cal-Hi Sports & Twitter.com.
Just like we did during the football season, we are going to do our best to spread around these honors as much as possible with one boy and one girl chosen from each region. This week’s best are from San Diego, Reedley, San Diego and Rio Linda.
To nominate a player for next week, email markjtennis@gmail.com by Monday at 12 noon and be sure to include a photo that we can use (which means it’s not from the local newspaper or from another web site). Please feel free to call at 209-463-9050 as well both for nominations or to see if your business or small company would like to become a sponsor for this weekly content.
Note: For purposes of this feature, we are considering the CIF Central Section to be in the north.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Boys Basketball Player of the Week
Justin Davis (Morse, San Diego) Jr.
His performance on Martin Luther King Jr. Day stood out to us on twitter and helped him be an easy choice for our honor this week. The 6-foot-5 junior standout scored 42 points and grabbed 13 rebounds during a 96-88 win over previously undefeated J.W. North of Riverside in double overtime. With three seconds remaining in regulation, Davis hit a 3-pointer to tie the game and send it to overtime. Along with 6-foot-11 teammate Brandon McCoy, Davis helped Morse win its first section title in 28 years last season. The Tigers won the San Diego D1 title over San Marcos.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Boys Basketball Player of the Week
Colin Slater (Immanuel, Reedley) Jr.
The Eagles have started the season 16-2 with the play of this 6-foot junior point guard a big factor in their success. He is averaging 19.6 points, 3.9 assists and 3.1 rebounds per game. On Monday, he had 29 points and a season-high 11 assists during a 77-61 win over Edison of Fresno. It was a matchup between two of the top three ranked teams in the CIF Central Section. Slater is making up for missed time. He had to sit out last season after transferring to Immanuel from Clovis North of Fresno, which is where he started as a freshman.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Girls Basketball Player of the Week
Ali Engelhardt (Mt. Carmel, San Diego) Sr.
A big reason the Sundevils are 16-1 this season and looking to get back to the San Diego Section Division I championship game is the play of this 6-foot senior, who is averaging 29 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. Last week, she had her second 40-point performance of the season when she scored 40 points and grabbed nine rebounds during a 60-45 win over Serra of San Diego. Her biggest performance of the season came against the same Conquistadors when she scored 42 points and grabbed 15 rebounds back in December during a 78-60 win.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Girls Basketball Player of the Week
Makaila Sanders (Rio Linda) Fr.
For the second week in a row, this freshman was two steals shy from a triple-double. She had 30 points, 10 rebounds and eight steals last week during a 78-31 win over Woodland. She followed that up with 20 points and 12 rebounds during a 74-25 win over Pioneer of Woodland and is averaging 21.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. In one of her very first high school games earlier this season, Sanders scored her season-high of 37 points during a 61-53 win over Elk Grove while also grabbing a season-high 16 rebounds.
Paul Muyskens is the Stockton office assistant editor for CalHiSports.com. Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
