Two of this week’s honorees are Elle Ladine (left) from Pinewood of Los Altos Hills and Jake Hall of Carlsbad. Photos: @Pinewood_gbb / Twitter.com & @Cbad_Hoops / Twitter.com.
After a one week hiatus, these honors are back and we have some real talent to reveal in our two Northern and two Southern California stops. Our first NorCal stop is in Los Altos Hills in the Bay Area. From there we head to Coalinga in the CIF Central Section. After that we start the trek down south first going way down to the coastal city of Carlsbad and then end up in Indio.
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Note: For these honors, we consider CIF Central Section players for Northern California. We also remind readers that for all of our Player of the Week features in all sports, girls and boys, we use it to uncover hidden talent that doesn’t always make the limelight, and for tracking entries into the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book. To nominate anyone, email markjtennis@gmail.com.
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Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Girls Basketball Player of the Week
Elle Ladine (Pinewood, Los Altos Hills) Sr.
The search for our Northern California Girls Basketball Player of the Week takes us to a school with a steep tradition of excellence in girls basketball under the guidance of 2014 Cal-Hi Sports State Coach of the Year Doc Scheppler, who entered this season with six CIF state championships and at No. 8 all-time in coaching wins with 674 according to our online record book.
Scheppler has sent dozens of girls on to play in college, and currently has 12 playing, including 2109 graduate and current Stanford junior Hannah Jump. In the Washington-bound Ladine, Scheppler has his fifth Pac-12 player, as the 5-foot-11 senior wing joins 1999 grad Lauren Smith-Hams (USC), 2001 alum Sebnem Kimyacioglu (Stanford), and 2005 graduate Daniela Roark (USC).
Those are all interesting facts but for this award we’re honoring Ladine for what she did recently on the court. Last week, in a 59-48 victory over host St. Francis (Mountain View) in the championship of the Joe Schramm Holiday Classic, Ladine went for a double-double 30 points (four 3-pointers) and 12 rebounds with six assists and two steals. Elle also had double-doubles in the first two games, 14 points and 13 rebounds with six assists and four steals in a 70-43 victory over a solid Marin Catholic, and 12 points and 13 rebounds with six assists and two steals in a running clock blowout of Los Altos.
In fact, Ladine, the double-double machine, has made that mark in every game for the 5-1 Panthers who came in at No. 16 in the most recent Cal-Hi Sports rankings. Her best effort came against No. 23 San Ramon Valley (Danville) when she went for 35 points and 13 rebounds with four steals in a 59-32 victory. In the one game Pinewood has lost, 59-54, to No. 14 St. Ignatius of San Francisco, Ladine had 17 points and 11 rebounds with four assists and two blocks.
On the season, Elle is doing pretty darn well and averaging 21.3 points, 12.3 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.2 steals per game. Last season in the spring after transferring from San Francisco Lowell and missing several games, Ladine was a big part of a Pinewood team that went 17-0 and won the CIF Central Coast Section Open Division. In the three-game run to the Open title, she had 18 points and 14 rebounds in a win over Palo Alto, 22 points and nine rebounds in a big win over St. Ignatius, and 11 points in the 50-48 title-game victory versus Archbishop Mitty of San Jose.
When asked to compare Ladine with his other four players that went Pac-12, Scheppler had this to say. “Elle ranks right up there with those players with her skill, intensity, work ethic, love of the game, and being a great teammate.”
Not many freshmen at any level in the state have ever scored 49 points for a new school record, which is what Coalinga’s Julius Olanrewaju did last week. Photo: PAGMETER.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Boys Basketball Player of the Week
Julius Olanrewaju (Coalinga) Fr.
For our Northern California Boys Basketball Player of the Week honor, we head to “The Valley” as the locals affectionately call the CIF Central Section and in what is somewhat of a rare occurrence we honor a freshman. The uncommon selection of a freshman is not because we discriminate against first-year players, it’s because not many of them are leading their team in just about every statistical category on a team that is 15-2 to start the season.
If there were announcers at games, the Horned Toads played last week at the Mendota Classic they hopefully got the pronunciation of his name correct since they would have been calling it out quite a few times. Last week was a perfect example of what the 6-foot-4, 195-pound Olanrewaju can do.
Three of the four outings for the son of West Hills Junior College (Coalinga) men’s head coach Adedokun Olanrewaju at the Mendota Classic were somewhat like normal days at the office for Julius. However, after Olanrewaju posted a double-double 20 points and 13 rebounds in an opening round 64-58 loss to Fresno McLane, a second-straight loss after Coalinga started the season 12-0, in the next game Julius was apparently furious. If announced his name was called to the tune of a school record 49 points with 19 rebounds and three assists as the Horned Toads ended the two-game skid with a 71-66 victory over McFarland.
Next up was Minarets of O’Neals and in limited action of a 61-32 victory, Olanrewaju had 27 points and six rebounds. Finally, in the consolation championship 69-33 triumph over Tranquility, Julius was back to a double-double after finishing with 31 points and 11 rebounds.
On the season, Olanrewaju is averaging 28.5 points, 13.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.6 blocks per game, plus he’s made 35 three-pointers. The big game against McFarland was the second time this season he’s burned that team. In the second week of December he went for a monster double-double 46 points and 21 rebounds with four assists, three steals and two blocks in an 81-57 victory.
Julius has 14 double-doubles and his 28.5 ppg average is the No. 7 reported mark in the state and tops in the Central Section.
On a final note, as previously stated, it’s rare for a freshman to carry a team but the Horned Toads not only have one freshman standout, they have two with freshman point guard Jaden Pena the only other Coalinga player in double-digit scoring at 12.4 points per game, plus he’s at 7.8 rebounds, 4.1 steals and 3.0 assists per game as well.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Boys Basketball Player of the Week
Jake Hall (Carlsbad) Fr.
What were we just saying about the rarity of a freshman getting one of these honors? Well, for SoCal, we’ve gone the route of the diaper dandy as well. In fact, this may be the first time we’ve ever had both boys winners north and south who are ninth graders.
To find Hall, we land in the home of LEGOLAND in the North County portion of the CIF San Diego Section in Carlsbad. That’s where the 6-foot-3 wing is part of a Lancers team that is currently 9-7 this season.
Last week, in an 87-72 win in the third-place game of the Senator Division at the Torrey Pines Holiday Classic, Hall burned the nets for 37 points. For his efforts in the four games,he now adds a statewide honor to being named to the all-tournament team.
Complete stats had not been reported but according to the Carlsbad Basketball Twitter handle Hall led the Senator Division in scoring at 24 points per game. For what has been reported up to December 10, Jake was averaging 22.0 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. And from other various reports, it’s not a stretch to say that Jake is among the most deadly 3-point shooters among freshmen in the state.
Carly Hyatt has led team that was still undefeated heading into this week. Photo: ncsasports.org.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Girls Basketball Player of the Week
Carla Hyatt (Shadow Hills, Indio) Sr.
The Coachella Valley around 10 miles southeast of Palm Springs off Interstate-10 and that is our destination in search of our Southern California Girls Basketball Player of the Week. In Indio, we find a senior guard/forward who not only has been getting it done on the hardwood but she hits the books in the classroom as well.
Last week, Hyatt read a few teams the riot act with a double-double 23 points and 12 rebounds with five steals and four assists in a 69-44 win over Monte Vista of Spring Valley. In two other games at a local tourney, Carla had a near triple-double after going for 15 points, nine rebounds and eight steals versus Casteel of Queen Creek, Arizona, and a double-double 13 points and 10 rebounds in a 50-45 victory over Victory Christian Academy of Chula Vista.
Stats were not available for the Lady Knights tournament title-game 52-38 victory or a Tuesday night blowout of neighboring Rancho Mirage, but even without those reported numbers Hyatt was averaging 18.5 points, 8.7 rebounds, 6.9 steals and 3.3 assists per game.
The best stat of them all for Carla and her teammates, of course, is Shadow Hills’ hot start. Counting the early game this week, the Lady Knights were still unbeaten at 16-0.
We mentioned that the basketball court is not the only place Carla puts up big numbers. Colleges take note because Hyatt reportedly carries a 4.7 GPA.
On a final note, there’s another Hyatt on the Lady Knights’ roster: Carla’s younger sister and sophomore combo guard Victoria Hyatt. Her stats were not complete either but for what has been reported she’s averaging 14.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 4.7 steals and 4.2 assists per contest.
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
