Three-point shooting is what earned both Patrick O’Brien (left) of San Diego Cathedral Catholic and Alex Facelo (right) from Pinewood of Los Altos Hills two of this week’s four top player honors. Photos: Twitter.com & Pinewood girls hoops / MaxPreps.com.
As the funnel narrows with the start of CIF section playoffs we start to wind down the player of the week features for basketball but this week we have some real outstanding performances and even a couple of entries in the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book were tracked. This week, we visit San Diego and Huntington Beach in Southern California, and in Northern California our stops are in Fairfield and Los Altos Hills.
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Notes: For these honors, we also consider CIF Central Section players for Northern California. To nominate anyone, email markjtennis@gmail.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Boys Player of the Week
Patrick O’Brien (Cathedral Catholic, San Diego) Jr.
The search for the Southern California Boys Player of the Week takes us to the far south and to the self described “America’s Finest City” better known as San Diego.
We land in the northern part of the city on Del Mar Heights Road around three miles east of the Pacific Ocean and it’s at Cathedral Catholic where we find this week’s award winner, and recently he’s been red hot.
Last week, in a 79-58 Western League win against visiting San Diego High, the 6-foot-5 junior made 8-of-10 three-pointers and was 12-for-17 overall from the field in a career high 34-point performance. He also had seven assists, six rebounds and three steals. Later in the week against Cal-Hi Sports No. 20 St. Augustine of San Diego, O’Brien had 26 points (four three-pointers), seven rebounds and five assists but the Dons fell short in a 76-63 loss.
So far this season for 17-8 Cathedral Catholic and heading into a Tuesday night non-league match-up with Victory Christian Academy of Chula Vista, O’Brien was averaging 16.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game.
Junior guard Angelina Bado has pushed her scoring average at Ocean View above 22.5 ppg. Photo: Fernando M. Donado / For OC Sports Zone.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Girls Player of the Week
Angelina Bado
(Ocean View, Huntington Beach) Jr.
Orange County is our destination in the hunt for the Southern California Girls Player of the Week and it’s around two miles east of Bolsa Chica State Beach and at Ocean View in Huntington Beach where we find this week’s honoree.
Ocean View has struggled a bit this season and the team’s season ended last week, and while it may be unfair to call Bado a one-girl team at times that was the reality of things, like in the performance that’s earning her the award. We also look closely at season-ending performances since it’s the last chance for the current season that players at schools like Ocean View can get a bump like this one.
Last week, in a 44-28 Golden West League victory over visiting Westminster, and in the final game for Ocean View this season, Angelina scored all but 11 Ocean View points and outscored Westminster by five herself after going for 33 points on two three-pointers and 9-for-9 from the foul line. She also had eight rebounds, three steals and two assists.
Earlier in the week, Bado had 18 points and nine rebounds with four assists and two steals in a grind-it-out 39-28 win over visiting Garden Grove.
Bado ends the season among the scoring leaders in Orange County after averaging 22.6 points per game, and despite just being 5-foot-5, she led the team with 7.2 rebounds per game.
Of note is that Angelina is from Lebanon and has represented her country in international competition, including a third-place finish in the 2022 FIBA Women’s U16 Division B Asian Championships.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Girls Player of the Week
Alex Facelo (Pinewood, Los Altos Hills) Sr.
We head to the lower portion of The San Mateo/San Francisco Peninsula and around a mile south of the Stanford campus to find this week’s Northern California Girls Player of the Week and we find her at Pinewood.
Pinewood is known as a three-point factory, and it’s head coach Doc Scheppler, who has won six state championships, is regarded as one of the top shooting instructors in California, and not just for girls basketball, but also as a personal shooting coach for players at all levels. Doc’s clients have included players like former NBA star and current international standout Jeremy Lin, who played at nearby Palo Alto High and led the Vikings to the state CIF 2006 Division II state championship.
Facelo is another deadeye shooter that is following in the footsteps of players like Doc’s daughter Kacey Scheppler, current Mountain View St. Francis head coach Sami Pompei when she was Sami Field-Polisso during her Pinewood days, and current Stanford grad student Hannah Jump, all of whom have graced the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book for their three-point shooting.
Jump held the school record for treys in a game with 11 in 2018, but Facelo broke that record last week in a 85-31 victory over host Crystal Springs Uplands when she nailed 12 three-pointers en route to a career high 42 points. Facelo was 12-of-18 from beyond the arc and a sizzling 15-of-21 overall from the field.
Alex’s hot shooting continued with 20 points on 6-of-10 from three-point land in a 70-39 victory over visiting Salesian of Richmond. It doesn’t count towards this week’s honor, but on Monday in a 56-42 non-league match-up with San Domenico of San Anselmo, Alex had 21 points and connected on seven from outside the arc.
Two weeks ago, in a 84-30 in over Notre Dame of Belmont, Facelo dropped in nine-of-12 three pointers en route to 29 points
Talk about being hot. That’s 37 three-pointers in four games, and for some players that’s a season or even a career’s worth of treys.
So far this season for the Cal-Hi Sports No. 17 and 17-4 Pinewood and heading into a West Bay Athletic League – Foothill Division matchup on Tuesday with Notre Dame of Belmont, Facelo was leading the CIF Central Coast Section with 112 made three-pointers and based on reported stats it looks like that is No. 3 in the state.
The 12 three-pointers also makes the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book Most Three-Point Field Goals Made (Game) list, and the 112 three-pointers for Facelo so far qualifies for the Most Three-Point Field Goals Made (Season) list as well.
On a final note, unless she goes ice cold for the remaining three league games and the upcoming playoffs, Facelo should easily break the school record of 118 three-pointers for one season that Field-Polisso set in 2007.
Vanden’s Tyler Thompson has been on our top player radar screen since his freshman season. Photo: @Pdouble_33 / Twitter.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Boys Player of the Week
Tyler Thompson (Vanden, Fairfield) Sr.
To find the Northern California Boys Player of the Week, we head on the I-80 corridor a little less than halfway between Vallejo and Sacramento.
Civilians aren’t allowed to fly into Travis Air Force, which directly borders Vanden High, but obviously we found our way there and thus we are able to honor Thompson.
Last week the University of Montana-committed 6-foot-5 senior swingman nailed eight three-pointers and finished with 34 points in a 71-52 Monticello Empire League win over neighboring Vacaville.
It was not the first time Thompson has had an explosive outing this season. He had 26 points in an earlier win for the Vikings over Vacaville. His best game probably would be considered the 41 points he had in a 71-54 victory in the semifinals of the Modesto Christian tournament against Mountain House. Tyler then had 30 points in the title game for that tourney but the host Crusaders won that game, 68-61.
Just three weeks ago at the Crush in the Valley showcase event, Thompson shined with 30 points as Vanden won in a matchup of State TOP 35 bubble teams, 55-50, over Redondo Union of Redondo Beach. Vanden has an 18-8 record entering a Tuesday night league matchup with visiting Armijo of Fairfield.
Scoring stats for the season for Tyler are not available on MaxPreps or on other sources we looked for. We’ve had him on our lists of the top Class of 2024 players since he was a freshman, however, and it’s great to see he’s having this kind of season. At least two times we’ve seen Vanden play in his career he was injured and out of the lineup.
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
