Here’s some record updates and highlights of top coaches, players & teams from the past two weeks as reported to us from CIF Central Section historian Bob Barnett of Fresno. Bob has done phenomenal work on behalf of CIF Central Section schools, athletes and coaches for more than 40 years.
Read more…
Cal-Hi Sports Insider Blog
Quick-hitting, behind-the-scenes news and notes from the CalHiSports.com staff, including previews of upcoming content and events.
Boys BB: Regional Finals (Divisions)
Head coach Brian Dietschy and players from Las Lomas of Walnut Creek won CIF NorCal D1 title after losing to Salesian of Richmond (which was No. 1 overall in the state at the time) in North Coast Section D3 final. Photo: Harold Abend.
Here are writeups and breakdowns of the two Division I boys regional championship games played on Saturday night at Long Beach State and the University of Santa Clara. Read on as well for scores and briefs from the other CIF regional finals in other divisions.
Read more…
Girls BB: Regional Finals (Divisions)
It’s hardware collecting time for the Serra of Gardena girls basketball team after they topped Ribet Academy in CIF SoCal D1 championship. Photo: Nick Koza.
Here are writeups and breakdowns of the two Division I girls regional championship games played on Saturday night at Long Beach State and the University of Santa Clara. Read on as well for scores and briefs from the other CIF regional finals in other divisions.
Read more…
Girls BB: Regional Final Quick Picks
Six-foot-nine center Andrea Aquino battles for position during her team’s game against St. Mary’s of Stockton that was played last January. Photo: Mark Tennis.
Good luck to all teams playing in CIF regional finals on Saturday. We will focus our coverage on the games played at Long Beach State (Open, D1) with coverage from Ronnie Flores and on the games played at Santa Clara University (Open, D1) with coverage from Harold Abend. Editor Mark Tennis will be editing everything later, but not going to games due to family funeral in Sacramento. We only felt comfortable giving predictions for the first four divisions but have comments for all six.
Read more…
Boys BB: Regional Final Quick Picks
Good luck to all teams playing in CIF regional finals on Saturday. We will focus our coverage on the games played at Long Beach State (Open, D1) with coverage from Ronnie Flores and on the games played at Santa Clara University (Open, D1) with coverage from Harold Abend. Editor Mark Tennis will be editing everything later, but not going to games due to family funeral in Sacramento. We only felt comfortable giving predictions for the first four divisions but have comments for all six.
Read more…
Girls BB: Top seeds roll in CIF Open
Unlike the boys, there were hardly any stunners in the first round of the CIF Open Division girls basketball state playoffs, which began on Friday across the state. The top four seeds all won in the Southern California bracket of eight teams. The only top four seed in Northern California to fall was No. 4 Folsom, which lost at home to No. 5 Salesian of Richmond.
For a similar wrap-up of the CIF Open Division boys basketball games played on Friday, CLICK HERE.
Here are some highlights/comments from each first-round game:
State No. 1 Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 62,
State No. 17 Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) 25
All-American Haley Jones continued her recent surge in the aftermath of the Monarchs (28-0) losing center Nicole Blakes (University of San Diego) to a knee injury. She scored 25 points and had 13 rebounds with four blocks and four steals, according to a tweet from Vytas Mazeika of the Bay Area News Group. O’Dowd, which knocked off state-ranked Miramonte of Orinda to win the CIF North Coast Section D2 title, ended 19-11. The Dragons lost twice previously to Mitty by big scores. The Monarchs, who also are ranked No. 1 in the nation, play Salesian of Richmond next on Tuesday in the regional semifinals.
Aquira DeCosta was the State Junior of the Year after last season and will play in college at Baylor. Photo: Mark Tennis.
State No. 2 St. Mary’s (Stockton) 66,
State No. 16 Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 37
It wasn’t hard for Rams’ head coach Tom Gonzalves to get his team fired up for Newman. During the 2016-17 regular season, a banged up St. Mary’s squad lost to the Cardinals on its home floor. This time, the rout was on in the first quarter. The Rams (27-2) nearly put all five starters in double figures with Ari Johnson’s 16 points and 15 from Aquira DeCosta leading the way. Nicole Young hit three 3-pointers and Neenah Young hit two. Jada Moss added 12 points. The Cardinals (24-5) were only outscored 32-28 in the second half, which offered some solace to head coach Monica Mertle based on comments to the local Stockton Record. St. Mary’s will now play state No. 6 Pinewood of Los Altos Hills (24-2*) in the regional semifinals on Tuesday at Delta College. The NorCal No. 3 seeded Panthers received a forfeit win on Friday when its scheduled opponent, No. 7 seed Carondelet of Concord, was removed from the tournament by the school for violations of team conduct at a party from the previous weekend.
State No. 3 Windward of Los Angeles 67,
State No. 19 Fairfax of Los Angeles 47
Head coach Vanessa Nygaard’s girls handled their business in a solid win over the CIF L.A. City Section Open Division champions. Windward (24-3) will now face the No. 4 seed Etiwanda Eagles in the regional semifinals on Tuesday. The Wildcats, who are top seed in the SoCal bracket, are attempting to follow up last year’s title in the CIF Division I state playoffs with one in the Open Division. Fairfax (27-5) ended at 27-5 overall.
State No. 4 Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood) 56,
State No. 10 Clovis North (Fresno) 44
If the Wolverines want to get another shot at Windward in the SoCal Open final — the two have already played three times with the Wildcats winning most recently in the CIF Southern Section Open Division final — they’ll have to complete a two-game sweep of the Clovis schools in Tuesday’s regional semifinals. Harvard-Westlake (26-5) got the first win of that attempt by topping a Broncos’ squad it only beat by five points earlier this season. Leading scorers were Ashlee Wong with 14 points followed by Jayla Ruffus-Milner (13), Kiki Iriafen (11) and Melanie Hirsch (11). Defending CIF Open Division state champ Clovis West will be next. Clovis North wrapped up a 26-6 campaign in which three of its losses were to Clovis West and two were to Harvard-Westlake.
State No. 5 Clovis West (Fresno) 62,
State No. 11 Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 54
Recently retired longtime Fresno Bee prep editor Andy Boogaard did a great job tweeting from this game. The host Golden Eagles (31-3) had some anxious moments as Mater Dei led 29-25 early in the third quarter. Stellar junior Madison Campbell then made some big shots and big plays to turn the tide. Clovis West freshman Champney Pulliam then helped seal the win by making 6-of-6 free throws in the final minutes. The Monarchs (23-6) did a great job to stay close with a lineup without two starters and three key players due to injuries. One of their young guns, freshman Brooke Demetre, had a strong outing with 16 points and seven rebounds.
State No. 8 Salesian (Richmond) 57,
State No. 7 Folsom 52
When these two teams met earlier it was a win for Folsom in the semifinals of the top division at the West Coast Jamboree. This time, Salesian’s interior strength was even more of a factor as the Pride avenged that defeat. Head coach Steve Pezzola’s girls (27-5) will now head to No. 1 and unbeaten Archbishop Mitty for the regional semifinals. Folsom completed its season at 27-5. Both teams probably had their reactions to winning and losing tempered just a bit when news of the Folsom boys upsetting the top seed Salesian boys in a game played at Albany was received.
State No. 9 Etiwanda 65,
State No. 18 Mount Miguel (Spring Valley) 40
The host Eagles (25-5) were dominant in an easy win over the CIF San Diego Section Open Division champions. They will now have to travel on Tuesday to play top-seed Windward in Tuesday’s regional semifinals. The margin of victory over the Matadors (30-2) will fuel further speculation that the CIFSS should have had a fifth team in the SoCal Open Division bracket.
Modesto Chr boys win SJS “Open”
No, they don’t call the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I boys basketball playoffs an Open Division bracket, but thanks to several years of the smaller private schools being moved up in divisions it’s just about the same as others that are officially labeled as open divisions.
And the finishes over the past two years involving two of the top teams in Northern California each time sure warrant the section’s top division standing out that much.
Senior Gabe Murphy celebrates on the bench with teammates shortly after Modesto Christian won CIF Sac-Joaquin Section title. Photo: Mark Tennis.
In Saturday’s D1 section final at University of the Pacific, Modesto Christian earned the blue banner with a 60-56 victory over Sheldon of Sacramento. The Crusaders were down 56-55 with less than 30 seconds left but needed to get off a shot with about 10 seconds remaining. As the shot clock was just about to sound, senior guard Junior Ballard launched a 35-foot bomb that found all net for a hard-to-believe three-pointer and a 58-56 lead.
Sheldon’s players knew they had time for a last-second shot of their own and it looked like the Huskies got a break when a foul was called with two seconds on the clock. Senior Dale Currie could have made two free throws to tie the score, but missed on the first attempt. Modesto Christian then added two free throws with 1.1 seconds left for the final margin.
“No, I didn’t know the shot clock was going down,” said Ballard, who was 1-for-8 shooting and 0-for-4 on threes before taking that last one. “I just heard Mike (Mike Pearson, the point guard) yelling for me to shoot it so I did.”
In winning the matchup of teams ranked No. 6 and No. 12 in the state by Cal-Hi Sports, Modesto Christian (28-3) won its 19th section title and secured either the No. 2 seed or No. 3 seed in the upcoming CIF NorCal Open Division playoffs. Getting No. 2 or No. 3 (Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland could also be No. 2) is important because the No. 2 seed would host in a possible semifinal. The top seed is expected to go to overall state No. 1 Salesian of Richmond.
Sheldon (26-5) lost a heartbreaker in the section final for the second straight year. In 2017, the Huskies fell to Woodcreek of Roseville 69-68 when Woodcreek’s Jordan Brown made two free throws with less than one second remaining. This time, they couldn’t make two with two seconds left that would have forced overtime. At least head coach Joey Rollings can tell his players they bounced back last year to gain a rematch with Woodcreek in the NorCal final.
Four teams from the SJS D1 bracket were taken into the eight-team NorCal Open Division last year and it is believed that will happen again. Both semifinalists Folsom (lost to Sheldon in OT) and Capital Christian (lost to Modesto Christian) have the resumes to go up.
“Essentially this is our Open Division,” said Modesto Christian head coach Brice Fantazia. “We’ve won section titles before, but to win in Division I is so much more special. We’re now back in D1, Capital Christian is now D1 and there are others. They are the big boys and we consider us big boys. We want to play anybody.”
Tyler Williams made two buzzer-beating shots earlier in the game for the Crusaders and led all scorers with 13 points. Ballard’s bomb gave him 10.
Currie may have missed that free throw, but came up huge for Sheldon. One of the leading candidates to be the Sacramento Bee’s Metro Player of the Year, Currie had 24 points on 10-of-20 shooting and made four three-pointers. Both Chris Wreidt and Ronald Agebsar were tough on the boards with 10 rebounds each and combined to score 17 points.
Girls BB: NorCal Record for St. Mary’s
After winning its 11th straight CIF Sac-Joaquin Section title on Saturday at University of the Pacific, the St. Mary’s of Stockton girls basketball team established a new Northern California record, according to the Cal-Hi Sports state record book.
The Rams, who defeated Folsom 71-48 for the SJS Division I championship, also moved into a tie for second-place on the all-time state list in the category of most consecutive section titles. They broke the previous NorCal best of 10 straight section titles held by Pinewood of Los Altos Hills (1998-2007) and tied in 2009 by Sacred Heart Cathedral of San Francisco. Both of those schools, as is current state and national No. 1 Archbishop Mitty of San Jose, are from the CIF Central Section.
Ariel Johnson had one of her best games for St. Mary’s with 26 points in a section championship game. Photo: Mark Tennis.
The state record for consecutive section titles in girls hoops was set at 16 in 2008 when Mission Prep of San Luis Obispo didn’t win a title in the CIF Central Section. The Royals began their streak in 1993 in the CIF Southern Section. St. Mary’s is now tied for second on that list with Brea Olinda of Brea, which won 11 section titles in a row in the Southern Section between 1989 and 1999.
Beating Folsom convincingly, of course, was the bigger goal on Saturday night. St. Mary’s, which has been No. 2 in the state since losing to Mitty in the title game at the Nike Tournament of Champions in Arizona, was facing a Bulldogs’ club that was 26-3 coming into the night and was up to No. 7 overall in the state.
Folsom didn’t play into its role of underdog in the early going. Freshman guard Charity Gallegos frustrated the St. Mary’s press defense with breakaway layups and a couple of three-pointers en route to 11 points in the first quarter. The Bulldogs found themselves ahead 23-13 with four minutes left before halftime, but then momentum changed rather quickly.
Florida-bound senior guard Ariel Johnson sparked a 17-1 run to end the second quarter with three driving layups and a three-pointer. She continued to have a hot hand in the third quarter. Folsom’s 23-13 lead had become a 36-24 lead for the Rams and it was all but over.
“I told them at halftime that one advantage was that they couldn’t match up with her speed,” said St. Mary’s head coach Tom Gonsalves when asked about the game that Johnson had. “She did an outstanding job executing the game plan. She had a great game.”
Johnson finished with 26 points and out-shined the two McDonald’s All-Americans who were in the game. Teammate Aquira DeCosta started slow but racked up 14 rebounds and five blocks to go with 22 points. Folsom’s McKenzie Forbes, who is a close friend of DeCosta’s, didn’t score until the third quarter but ended with 14 points. Gallegos led the Bulldogs with 15.
Both teams now move on to the CIF NorCal Open Division. Pairings will be released by the CIF on Sunday afternoon. The Rams, who also have now won 19 section titles in all, know they will be seeded second behind Mitty but know the entire bracket can be dangerous.
“We’ve been working very hard and I think we are ready,” said Johnson, who suffered a gash on her nose early in the fourth quarter from what she thought was running into the teeth of DeCosta. “(If we play Mitty again) we just have to do a better job and shut down Haley (Jones).”
