Two of this week’s honorees are DiJonai Carrington from Horizon Christian of San Diego and Niamey Harris from Mission of San Francisco. Photos: Harold Abend & Willie Eashman.
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 Francisco, Fairfield, San Diego and Anaheim.
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. Also, one more week and this feature is switching to baseball and softball.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Boys Basketball Player of the Week
Niamey Harris (Mission, San Francisco) Soph.
For the first time this season, we have a multiple winner as this sophomore sensation was first named as our player of the week back in October in football. Part of the reason for that was a 106-yard interceptin return touchdown during a 46-16 win over Balboa of San Francisco.
We mentioned in that writeup that Harris started as a freshman for the Bears’ varsity basketball team and he is having an even better season this year. He scored 29 points and grabbed nine rebounds during a 92-88 win over Washington of San Francisco for the CIF San Francisco Section championship. Earlier in the week, he also had 29 points while grabbing a season-high 22 rebounds during a 93-48 win over Balboa.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Boys Basketball Player of the Week
Nick Anderson (Canyon, Anaheim) Sr.
While we don’t know whether it was a state record or not, Anderson and the Comanches made CIF Southern Section championship history when they overcame a 28-point deficit, including 22 heading into the fourth quarter, in their 103098 win in double-overtime over Lawdale for the CIFSS 2AA crown.
Anderson sparked the Canyon offense, finishing with 37 points and 11 assists. The Comanches went on a 19-4 run to open the final quarter before his three pointer gave them a brief lead in the final minute of regulation.
The 201 combined points for two teams set a section championship game record. The state record for combined scoring in any game is 225.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Girls Basketball Player of the Week
Julia Blackshell-Fair (Vanden, Fairfield) Soph.
Just a sophomore, Julia is averaging a double-double this season and came through with a big time performance during the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division III championship game. She scored 27 points and grabbed 21 rebounds in a 83-51 win over Rio Linda in the finals.
“I was actually still nervous throughout the whole game,” Julia told the Fairfield Daily Republic. Still, she came through when needed despite those nerves as the Vikings won their first-ever CIFSJS championship.
With two more years still to come for Blacksell-Fair, the it may not be the last blue banner for Vikings in their gym.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Girls Basketball Player of the Week
DiJonai Carrington (Horizon Christian, San Diego) Jr.
We nearly picked Carrington earlier this season as this state stat star regular has been putting up big-time numbers, but if there is ever a week to pick her it’s this one.
After our 2013 State Freshman of the Year hit for 35 points and 24 rebounds during a 66-59 win over Mount Miguel of Spring Valley for the CIF San Diego Section Division I championship, the season came to an end for Horizon without the team getting to play in the state playoffs.
The story has seen a huge amount of interest on our Twitter and Facebook accounts and we were impressed as well with DiJonai’s response to the article we wrote. “While I still can’t believe the season is done, we are trusting that there is something bigger and better in store for us next year.”
While Carrington has one more season of high school basketball to go with her mom Vickie as the head coach, she is a big-time recruit and will have plenty of chances to do bigger and better things over many years to come; not just next season.
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
