We swear that we chose Maile Williams of Sacramento Capital Christian (left) for NorCal Girls POW before we found a photo of her with two all-state patches on her letter jacket. At right is SoCal boys honoree Skyy Clark from Heritage Christian (Northridge). Photos: Twitter.com & @PollonPreps / Twitter.com.
Like last week and the first week of basketball players being honored when we had two players sink eight three-pointers, we have a player who made eight treys, but we also have one that canned 10 from outside the arc. This week’s selections are from Northridge, Sonora, Ontario and Sacramento.
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Note: For these honors, we consider CIF Central Section players for Northern California. This is the second week for basketball honorees. This feature will take a one-week break for Christmas next week and will return after the conclusion of major tournaments just before New Year’s day. To nominate someone by 12 noon on most Mondays, email markjtennis@gmail.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Boys Basketball Player of the Week
Skyy Clark
(Heritage Christian, Northridge) Soph.
For the second straight week, the San Fernando Valley is the destination for our Southern California boys honoree, and our award winner is a player who despite being a sophomore is on a lot of recruiting radar screens and recently received an offer considered “warm” from UCLA after previous offers from 10 other major Division 1 schools.
Last week was like four normal days of work at the office for the 6-foot-4 point guard who Cal-Hi Sports Managing Editor and boys basketball guru, and Ballsilife.com Grassroots Editor Ronnie Flores has ranked as the No. 3 sophomore in the state.
Clark barely broke a sweat with 21 points, seven assists and nine steals in limited time of a trouncing of Los Angeles Marshall in the Warriors’ opener of The Warrior Classic at Alemany of Mission Hills. In a 107-81 victory over Hart of Newhall, Clark went for 32 points, eight rebounds and four assists. In the semifinals and in a 94-62 victory against Calabasas, he had a 33-point effort. Finally, in the championship game and a battle of Warriors against Warriors, it was Skyy that did the flying for a third straight effort over 30 points and second straight 33-point (five assists) performance in an 81-69 victory over host Alemany.
So far for a Heritage Christian team that is 10-1 on the season, Clark is averaging 25.1 points, 4.4 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 3.2 steals per game, and he’s made 24 three-pointers and is shooting 87 percent from the free-throw line.
Clark has two more years left as a Warrior, and we know it’s a cliché, but the bottom line is the sky is the limit for Skyy, and we’ll be watching to see how high he flies.
Patterson racked up a 48-point outing last week for Sonora against Central Catholic of Modesto. Photo: FrontRowPreps.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Boys Basketball Player of the Week
Austin Patterson (Sonora) Sr.
If it wasn’t for our friends Dion Aye and Chris Babcock of NorCalSportsTV we might not have headed out to the old mining and timber town of Sonora just northwest of Yosemite National Park for this week’s NorCal boys honor. It was off of their Twitter feed that we found Patterson, and then when we had some difficulty getting more than a little bit of info on Austin’s feats, Aye put us not only with Wildcats head coach Lloyd Longeway but with Patterson’s father Scot Patterson.
The video clip is on the @NorCalSportsTV handle, and it verifies the reason Austin is being honored as the Northern California Boys Player of the Week, and that’s because he dropped in a school record 48 points (eight three-pointers) with 13 rebounds in an 80-65 win over host Central Catholic of Modesto in the third round of the Mark Gallo Invitational. He had 20 points in a third quarter that saw Sonora stretch a two-point lead to 15 points entering the final period.
Patterson came back with 18 points in a big 68-66 overtime win in the fifth place game against Sacramento, and already this week he had a double-double 19 points and 11 rebounds with five assists and four steals in a 57-50 win over Pitman (Turlock) that gets the Wildcats to 7-2 this season.
“He’s a special talent and a dynamic player. Just a great kid.” said Longeway about his star 6-foot-3 senior guard. “He’s got a great jumper and this year he’s finishing better. He’s a fun guy to coach.”
So far this season, Patterson is averaging 24.3 points, 7.9 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.9 steals per game.
Last season when Sonora went 27-5 and won the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV title before bowing out to Palo Alto in the CIF Northern Regional Division III playoffs, Patterson had per game averages of 23.5 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Girls Basketball Player of the Week
Maile Williams (Capital Christian, Sacramento) Sr.
The state capital is where we land for the second straight week in looking for our Northern California Girls Player of the Week, and what we find is a girl who’s not unfamiliar to us since she was an all-state selection as a freshman and a sophomore before transferring to Capital Christian last year. Now, the senior guard snags one of our weekly honors after her recent performances.
Last week, at the Claude Brock Tournament at Center of Antelope, Williams was an all-tournament selection after leading the Cougars to the consolation championship. Maile had 28 points, four rebounds, six assists and four steals in an opening round loss to Vallejo Jesse Bethel, a season-high 33 points with six rebounds six assists and five steals in a blowout of host Center, and 31 points with six rebounds five assists and three steals in a 57-55 consolation title game victory over Selma.
So far, and in a 5-3 start for Capital Christian, the 5-foot-9 Williams has gone for 30 or more points three times and is averaging 23.9 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 4.1 steals per games. Last season, Williams averaged 19.4 points per game.
Chloe Briggs has just begun her high school career for Ontario Christian and the freshman already is in the state record book. Photo: Hudl.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Girls Basketball Player of the Week
Chloe Briggs (Ontario Christian) Fr.
For our Southern California Girls Player of the Week honor, we head east around 35 miles from downtown Los Angeles and a stone’s throw off of the Pomona Freeway where we find a girl who has been really lighting up the scoreboard, so much so that it would not be a stretch to say there’s a glow to Chloe.
Last week, in an 83-46 shellacking of Linfield Christian of Temecula, the 5-foot-11 freshman stat star sensation had a monster triple-double 43 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists, and she canned 10 three-pointers. The 10 three-point shots in a game makes the list in the Cal-Hi Sports Record Book.
With that effort, Briggs also helped get the Knights to 10-1 on the season to end the week, but already this week Briggs was big again after going for another triple-double with a season-high 45 points (six treys), 11 steals and 10 assists.
Briggs now has four 40-point performances and is averaging 35.3 points, 11.7 rebounds, 7.7 assists and 6.3 steals a game. The points per game average is far and away the top reported mark in the state, the assists are the third highest reported number, the steals are No. 13 and the rebounds make the top 50 highest reported totals. Chloe has also made 58 three-pointers and that is fifth most in the Golden State.
A freshman phenom and diaper dandy all rolled into one? So far for Briggs, that seems to be the case.
Harold Abend is the associate editor of CalHiSports.com and the vice president of the California Prep Sportswriters Association. He can be reached at marketingharoldabend@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @HaroldAbend
