Two of this week’s honorees are Cooper Stearns of Irvine (left) and Gabby Ramos from Clovis East of Clovis. He’s actually better in another sport. She’s got international experience. Photos: Tim Burt / For OC Sports Zone & ABC 30 Fresno.
It’s Christmas week, but there still was plenty of action last week all across the state and worthy candidates for these honors were not hard to find. We’re taking a break for New Year’s for this feature next week and then we’ll be back going week-to-week for the rest of the season. This week’s stops are in Irvine and South Pasadena for Southern California and Sacramento and Clovis for Northern California.
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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 Basketball Player of the Week
Cooper Stearns (Irvine) Sr.
We start this week with a player in which basketball is not his No. 1 sport. For Stearns, it’s golf. And if you think it’s easy for a high school golfer to get a scholarship to Stanford, you don’t know much. Cooper has signed with the Cardinal and it will be for golf. We don’t know how many golfers have come from Orange County to Stanford, but of course one of them was Tiger Woods.
Stearns averaged 20.1 ppg and 9.9 rebounds last season for the Vaqueros on the basketball court. The team finished 16-14 and went to the CIF Southern Section D4A playoffs. This year’s team improved to 11-2 last week with a 60-42 non-league win vs Laguna Hills. Stearns was dominant on both ends of the floor and came through with a 20-20 double-double, which for him meant 24 points and 20 rebounds. Cooper’s younger brother, Holden, also contributed to the win with eight points.
Earlier this season, Cooper had a 34-point game for Irvine in a win vs Rancho Alamitos of Garden Grove. He had 18 rebounds in that game plus 18 rebounds in another game. Not all of his games are yet posted but he’s averaging a double-double of 17 ppg and 11 rebounds per game.
Kayla Boozer does not lose too often when she plays for South Pasadena. Photo: South Pasadena HS Athletics / MaxPreps.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Girls Basketball Player of the Week
Kayla Boozer (South Pasadena) Sr.
We head to South Pasadena from L.A. on the Arroyo Seco Parkway, considered the first freeway in the U.S. It actually goes through South Pas on its way to Pasadena to the north. We’ve been to the school for these honors in girls basketball before, in fact, about one year ago to write up Dylan Tse. Dylan is now graduated so now it’s time for Kayla.
When Tse and Boozer were together last season, Dylan averaged 24.1 ppg and Kayla checked in at 20.2 ppg to go with 14.7 rebounds, 2.1 blocks and 2.0 steals. With Dylan, Kayla has become one of the leading scorers in the state. In her first five reported outings for the season, she is averaging 32.4 ppg.
In games from last week, Boozer, a 6-foot-1 senior, had 35 points and 16 rebounds in a 53-51 victory against La Canada and she had 31 point, 12 rebounds and seven steals in a 59-29 triumph vs Eisenhower of Rialto.
Kayla also plays volleyball and was a member of South Pasadena’s team that recently won the CIF Division 4 state championship with a 3-2 win vs Hilmar.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Girls Basketball Player of the Week
Gabby Ramos (Clovis East, Clovis) Sr.
Stops in the Clovis Unified School School District for all of the sports we cover with players of the week (football, boys hoops, girls hoops, baseball, softball) are fairly common and this week we have one at Clovis East.
It’s there where we find Ramos, a 5-foot-11 senior guard, who had a huge week in helping the Timberwolves finish in third-place in their division at the annual Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas. She already loves Nevada since she has signed to play next at the University of Nevada in Reno.
Ramos got going with 35 points in a 50-34 win by Clovis East over Centennial of Boise, Idaho. Next game 31 points in a 66-48 victory vs Desert Pines of Las Vegas, which was followed by 22 points in a 50-47 loss to Overland of Aurora, Colo. Gabby’s week ended with a third 30-point outing (30 points) as her team topped Montgomery of San Diego, 52-42, in the third-place game.
Head coach Garrette Mantle sent in a nomination about Gabby’s week. He doesn’t put up stats on MaxPreps, but we know that Gabby has been one of the top players in the CIF Central Section. She went over 1,000 points for her career last season in a game vs Bullard (Fresno) and had 36 points in a different outing vs Bullard earlier last season. She should get past 1,500 career points later this season. Gabby (a 4.0 GPA student) also has international experience. She averaged 16 ppg two summers ago playing for the 16-under Gilas Pilipinas national team.
Manno Jenkins will be once again looking for high honors at the end of this season. Photo: X.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Boys Basketball Player of the Week
Manno Jenkins (Natomas, Sacramento) Jr.
Our last stop this week takes us to a school north of the State Capitol that is only a few miles from the California Interscholastic Federation’s headquarters (also in the Natomas area of the town). It’s there where we find a 6-foot-1 junior who continues to improve each season.
Manno was the man for the Nighthawks last season as a sophomore when he averaged 18.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 3.4 steals for a 25-10 team that lost by just 64-61 to Monterey in the CIF NorCal D4 championship. Monterey won the state title over Chatsworth several days later. Jenkins was named first team All-Metro by the Sacramento Bee.
Jenkins had his first really big outing last week in a 62-56 win by Natomas over Willow Glen of San Jose. He knocked down 32 points, grabbed seven rebounds, gave out six assists and collected seven steals. So far in 10 reported games (the Nighthawks are 6-4), Manno has averaged 22.2 ppg. His other averages are 5.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 3.1 steals.
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.
