State Stat Stars of the Week

Erica McCall from Ridgeview of Bakersfield may be dribbling in photo above, but it’s her shot-blocking that now ranks No. 1 on the all-time career list in the Cal-Hi Sports state record book. Photo courtesy of school.

By Mark Tennis & Paul Muyskens with contribution by Bob Barnett.

We collect these highlights in support of the Cal-Hi Sports state record book, which is the exclusive home for state records and has been published seven times since 1980.
These highlights are for games played mostly from Feb. 19 to Feb. 23 with some performances from this week. Note that this feature will slowly switch to baseball and softball in the next two weeks.
To send in a stat star of your own, email highlights to markjtennis@gmail.com.
For game reports, please go to our twitter page @CalHiSports and for other updates please visit our Facebook page. To subscribe to our weekly e-newsletter, click here.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Henry Caruso (Serra, San Mateo)
On the first night of the new CIF Central Coast Section Open Division playoffs, Caruso might have had an even better game than Mr. Basketball Aaron Gordon of Archbishop Mitty. The Princeton-bound senior shined with 30 points and led the Padres past El Camino of South San Francisco 74-66.

Corbin Covey (Camarillo)
The all-state grid-hooper and record-breaking receiver handed out 13 assists to go with 17 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Scorpions past Santa Fe of Santa Fe Springs 77-69 in the CIF Southern Section Division II-AA playoffs.

J.J. Fallas (Shalhevet, Los Angeles)
Fallas helped his fellas with 34 points in a 70-63 victory against Valley Torah in the CIFSS Division V-A playoffs. He then came back with 34 points against San Gabriel Academy as the Firehawks felled the Eagles 70-58 in the semifinals.

Isaac Hamilton (St. John Bosco, Bellflower)
It’s the second straight week for Hamilton getting on this honor roll. He does it again for pouring in 43 points to lift Bosco past Ocean View of Huntington Beach 89-87 in the CIFSS Division IIIA semifinals.

Damonte Holiday (Hoover, San Diego)
It looks like Damonte is a grid-hoop athlete we might have missed on this year’s all-state teams, but he’s a junior so we’ll watch him for that more closely. In basketball, the 6-foot-1 point guard has led Hoover to a spot opposite La Costa Canyon in the CIF San Diego Section Division II championship. He had 27 points in the Cards’ quarterfinal triumph against Steele Canyon of Spring Valley and hit for 16 in the semis against San Marcos.

Nick Hornsby (Tustin)
One of the keys to the Tillers taking a 58-51 win over Compton in the CIFSS Division IIIAAA semifinals was Hornsby’s free throw shooting. He made 14 from the stripe and finished with 26 points.

T.J. Leaf (Foothills Christian, El Cajon)
The freshman phenom racked up another triple-double, this time with 29 points, 13 assists and 12 rebounds in leading Foothills Christian past San Pasqual Academy in the CIF San Diego Division II playoffs.

Jordan Mathews (Santa Monica)
To say he got hot in the second half of SaMo’s 75-63 win over Aliso Niguel of Aliso Viejo in the CIFSS Division I-A quarterfinals would be an understatement. Mathews, who is headed to Cal, posted 29 of his 32 points in the final two quarters.

Phillip Randles (Edison, Fresno)
The senior guard scored a personal high of 38 points and made six 3-pointers for the game in a 95-31 win over Centennial of Bakersfield in the CIF Central Section Division I playoffs.  He scored only nine points in a 68-64 overtime loss to Clovis North, but that still gave him a total of 1,027 for his career.

Kendall Small (Ocean View, Huntington Beach)
It was almost a triple-double for Small in Ocean View’s CIFSS Division III-A playoff win against Northwood of Irvine. He also makes this feature for a second straight week. His totals in the 68-59 triumph: 26 points, 13 rebounds and nine steals.

Alex Van Dyke (Cosumnes Oaks, Elk Grove)
In a CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division II playoff game against Buhach Colony of Atwater and its all-state grid-hooper, Joe Marquez, it was Van Dyke who did the most with 34 points. Cosumnes Oaks also won 89-88, but its season ended earlier this week after a loss to Grant of Sacramento.

Noah Wellington (Bethel, Vallejo)
The senior guard led Bethel past Granite Bay 74-72 in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs by pouring in a game-high 31 points.

D’Erryl Williams (Sheldon, Sacramento)
The returning all-state guard racked up a triple-double with 18 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists when the Huskies beat Kennedy of Sacramento 91-62 in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs. In an earlier playoff game, teammate Ryan Manning made 6-of-8 on 3-pointers in a romp past Bear Creek of Stockton.

Anthony Zataray (Coalinga)
He led his team to a 59-49 victory over Sierra Pacific of Hanford in the CIF Central Section Division V playoffs as he scored a career high of 30 points.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Roxanna Barahman (Calabasas)
This freshman is one reason why the Coyotes had such a big week in the CIF Southern Section Division III-AA playoffs. In one of the wins, which was 72-66 over Santa Barbara, Barahman shined with 29 points and pulled down eight rebounds.

Dijonae Carrington (Horizon, San Diego)
We almost hate to mention this one because of the final score, but to get it out of the way the freshman already with top college offers had a triple-double of 16 points, 16 assists and 15 steals when Horizon raced past Foothills Christian of El Cajon 101-4.

Tyler Ellis (Antelope)
The senior forward ruled the glass with 26 rebounds and also hit for 24 points as the Titans won in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division II playoffs 57-52 against River City of West Sacramento.

Ahlisha Henderson (Reseda)
It was another huge night for Henderson with 30 points and 38 rebounds when Reseda defeated Gardena 50-35 in the CIF L.A. City Section Division III playoffs. After we reported her single-season total from last week (she’s No. 2 in state history), there were some local scribes who questioned it on the grounds that the stats are padded. As is our custom, however, if the school stands by those totals there’s nothing we would do further and would gladly accept them for the record book.

Imani Littleton (Bishop’s, La Jolla)
She can get overlooked with an All-American like Kelsey Plum in the same town, but Littleton is a legit all-state type player in her own right. She had 36 points last week and also had 15 rebounds, 12 steals and four blocks in her team’s 93-14 romp past Christian of El Cajon. Most of Littleton’s points came in a hard-to-believe second quarter when the Knights broke the scoreboard with 55 points. We still need to check through some single game highs for the last three seasons, but the 55 points for one quarter by a team is better than the state record total of 54 from the 2008 record book set in 1982 by Riverside Poly.

Jenny Lopez (St. Bonaventure, Ventura)
Three-pointers were raining like mad for Lopez during St. Bonnie’s 63-53 win last week over Whitney of Cerritos in the CIFSS Division IVA quarterfinals. She hit on a whopping nine shots from beyond the arc and wound up with 34 points.

Taylor Massengale (River Valley, Yuba City)
In a 65-62 overtime triumph over Weston Ranch of Stockton in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division III playoffs, Massengale nearly notched a triple-double with 15 points, 16 rebounds and nine blocks.

Erica McCall (Ridgeview, Bakersfield)
Although it doesn’t look like the Stanford-bound McDonald’s All-American is going to pass the CIF Central Section career scoring record of 2,938 set in 2002 by Nikki Blue from West of Bakersfield, we can confirm (thanks to section historian Bob Barnett) that she will end her career as the new state record holder for blocked shots. Entering this weekend’s Division II section final against Garces, McCall has 955 blocked shots since she began swatting as a freshman four years ago. She has broken the previous state record of 859 set in 1989 by Vista’s Chris Enger. After getting 23 points and 14 rebounds in Ridgeview’s 62-33 win over Independence on Tuesday night, McCall also has 2,517 career points and 1,915 rebounds. She probably needs for her team to avoid being in the open division otherwise she could become just the third player in state history with 2,000 career rebounds. The other two are Courtney Paris and Terri Mann.

Bayli McClard (Hanford)
When Hanford edged Bullard of Fresno 83-74 in overtime last week in the CIF Central Section Division I playoffs, McClard put on a show before 1,200 fans.  The senior headed to Gonzaga scored a career high of 39 points, had 22 rebounds and 15-of-18 at the free-throw line. She also ended the night with 1,786 career points.

Aarion McDonald (Bullard, Fresno)
The Knights were led in their shootout loss to Hanford by their outstanding freshman. She poured in 42 points for a new school record, with 31 coming in the second half.  No freshman in the history of the Central Section, which includes the great Jackie White of San Joaquin Memorial and Nikki Blue of West Bakersfield, has led the section in scoring. According to section historian Bob Barnett, McDonald did for 2013 with 25.7points per game and had an eye-popping 694 points in 27 games.

Amy Okonkwo (Etiwanda)
It looks like Etiwanda’s talented junior likes scoring 28 points in playoff games. She hit for that total early last week in a win against Edison of Huntington Beach. Of course, her 28 points from Wednesday of this week came in a bigger game as the Eagles upset Mater Dei of Santa Ana 73-72 in overtime.

Hannah Ramirez (Shafter)
She ended her four years of varsity play when she scored 12 points in a 43-33 losing effort against Tehachapi. Despite the loss, Hannah still set a school record with 1,782 career points and made more than 200 3-pointers.

Kelli Robinson (Woodbridge, Irvine)
With the aid of making seven 3-pointers, Robinson tossed in 35 points for the Warriors in their 72-62 win over Perris in the CIFSS Division IIAA playoffs. She then scored 25 points but it wasn’t enough as Woodbridge fell in the next round 70-65 to J.W. North of Riverside.

Chrishae Rowe (Santiago, Corona)
She’s on her way to perhaps getting some Ms. Basketball State Player of the Year consideration after dominating with 40 points when Santiago beat Millikan of Long Beach 78-63 in the CIFSS Division I-AA playoffs. Teammate Monique Billings also had a big-time outing in the same game with 22 points, 25 rebounds and 10 blocks.

Darriyan Thomas (California School for Deaf, Fremont)
She came through with a triple-double, scoring 10 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and coming up with 11 steals in a 45-29 win against San Francisco Waldorf in the CIF North Coast Section Division VI playoffs.

BASEBALL

Anthony Arias (Fairfield)
After eight strikeouts in four scoreless innings in his season debut on the mound, Arias then went out and pitched seven scoreless innings with 16 strikeouts as the Falcons defeated Armijo of Fairfield 5-0 for their third straight win.

Tony Bone (Santa Margarita, Rancho SM)
Showing his powerful bat in the Eagles’ season opener, he went 3-for-4 with three runs batted in and two home runs in a 11-2 win over Mira Costa of Manhattan Beach.

Tyler Cohen (Agoura, Agoura Hills)
Returning standout for team that was in our preseason state top 20 went 5-for-5 with a triple and three runs scored as the Chargers beat Golden Valley of Santa Clarita 14-2.

Cade Egri (La Quinta)
Starting his senior season with a solid start he has had two hits, at least two runs batted in and a home run in all three games as the Blackhawks have started the season with a 3-0 record.

Ryan Stevenson (Sonora)
Not only did this senior left-hander allow just one hit while striking out nine in five scoreless innings but he also had three hits and drove in three runs as the Wildcats opened the season with a 8-1 win over Ripon Christian.

Jake Sweaney (Garces, Bakersfield)
Although Garces beat Bakersfield Christian 4-1 in the third game of the season, Sweaney went 0-for-2 at the plate to end his 34-game hitting streak spanning the last two seasons.  Jake had hits in all 32 games he played in the 2012 season.  His 34 consecutive games with a hit ties the Central Section record set in 2008 by Clay Cederquist of Fowler. Already this week, Sweaney has gotten back on track with a home run and two hits in a loss to Liberty and then three hits and five RBIs in a win against Ridgeview.

Adam Rivera (Dinuba)
He was perfect 5 for 5 swinging the bat and also had three RBIs in a 13-1 over Seaside. Rivera then came back in the second game of a doubleheader with a home run in a 16-6 win by the Emperors.

SOFTBALL

Kristina Brown (Dixon)
Leading the Rams’ offensive attack, this senior went 4-for-4 at the plate with a double, home run and five runs batted in as they defeated Natomas of Sacramento 15-1 in their season opener.

Jade Chapan (River City, West Sacramento)
Just a sophomore, she went 7-for-8 to open the season as she had four hits and three runs batted in during a 12-1 win over McClatchy of Sacramento and then had three hits during a 14-2 win over Mesa Verde of Citrus Heights. She also showed off her speed as she stole two bases in both games.

Gia Rodoni (Central Catholic, Modesto)
Sophomore hurler had a sensational start to the season in the circle as she allowed just one hit and one unearned run while striking out 16 as the Raiders defeated Hilmar 4-1. In the same game, Rodoni went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Erica Romero (Santiago, Corona)
She is no stranger to our state stat stars and wasted no time getting herself into a groove this season as she struck out nine in four hitless innings of a 12-1 win over Patriot of Riverside and then struck out 14 during a 8-0 win over Hemet. Romero and her team have started 4-0 and this time don’t have to wait for head coach John Perez to get finished coaching the girls’ basketball team.

Rachel Shotzbarger (Saugus)
Sending shots over the wall, this senior shortstop homered twice and drove in three runs as the Centurions (who were in our preseason state top 20) opened the season with a 6-0 road win against Stockdale of Bakersfield.

Comments or corrections? Email markjtennis@gmail.com.