Santa Barbara’s Amber Melgoza scored 30 points in last year’s CIF Division III state final against Modesto Christian and is off to a great start this season. Photo: Willie Eashman.
This feature has switched to boys and girls basketball and like we did in football we are going to do our best to spread around the honors as much as possible with one boy and one girl chosen from each region. This week’s best are from National City, Santa Barbara, Brentwood and Richmond.
Note: For purposes of this feature, we are considering the CIF Central Section to be in the north.
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.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Boys Basketball Player of the Week
Charles Cadua (Sweetwater, National City) Sr.
While he may be listed at just 5-foot-4, Charles or C.J. has had some big-time performances early on this season, including a 42-point performance last week during an 83-71 win over Crawford of San Diego.
Averaging more than 30 points per game this season, Cadua also scored 34 points during a 75-51 win over Lincoln of San Diego and 32 points during a 67-65 win over Kearny of San Diego.
Cadua has been a part of the Red Devils’ varsity team since his freshman year and has been a captain since his sophomore year. He was a key player on last year’s team that went 28-3 and lost to Kearny in the CIF San Diego Section Division III championship.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Boys Basketball Player of the Week
J.P. Puente (Liberty, Brentwood) Sr.
While normally scoring 17 points in a game doesn’t earn you a mention in our state stat stars or get you honored as a player of the week, but the circumstances of Puente’s performance earns him our weekly honor.
Leading the Lions with 17 points during their 53-52 win over Concord in the championship game of the Stonebarger Tournament, he was named tournament MVP.
According to tweets from @Scoop_Johnson, the outing by J.P. came after he and his team all attended his grandmother’s funeral earlier in the day.
Puente also was a key member of Liberty’s football team this season that won an NCS playoff game and enjoyed one of the best seasons in school history.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Girls Basketball Player of the Week
Amber Melgoza (Santa Barbara) Jr.
Leading her team to the Gold Coast Classic Tournament championship, she scored at least 34 points in all four games of the tournament, including a 42-point, 9-rebound and 6-steal stat line in the 72-59 championship game win over Rio Mesa of Oxnard.
Melgoza, who wowed many onlookers in last year’s CIF Division III state finals’ loss to Modesto Christian, had her biggest offensive output in the 72-59 semifinal win over Pacifica of Oxnard. She scored 45 points to go with 10 rebounds.
Averaging 34.9 points for the early season, Melgoza also has led the Dons to a 7-0 record. She saw her scoring average soar last year to 22.3 per game and was a first team Cal-Hi Sports all-state sophomore selection.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Girls Basketball Player of the Week
Minyon Moore (Salesian, Richmond) Jr.
Another first-team sophomore all-state selection last year, she does a bit of everything for the Pride and recorded a triple-double during their 62-51 win over Foothill of Pleasanton last week with 10 points, 10 rebounds, 12 assists, six steals and three blocks.
The biggest win of last week for Moore and her team, however, was a 64-61 triumph over Sacred Heart Cathedral of San Francisco in a matchup between two of the top teams in Northern California. She scored 19 points and had eight assists in that game.
On the season, Minyon is averaging 9.8 points, 8.0 assists, 5.8 rebounds and 5.5 steals per game.
If you don’t know by now, she’s the younger sister of graduated Ms. Basketball State Player of the Year finalist and McDonald’s All-American Mariya Moore and played against Long Beach Poly in last season’s CIF Open Division state championship.
Paul Muyskens contributed to this content item. 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
One Comment
Ran into a buzz saw at Archbishop Mitty on Thursday night….lost by 20