It was a night to shine at Sacramento High on Saturday night.
The Dragons were one of two schools to send two teams to the CIF North Region final with back-to-back Division III victories at home.
Brittany Shine did it all for Sacramento on Saturday.
File art by David Steutel
The
Sacramento girls received a remarkable effort from Florida-bound Brittany Shine to defeat the No. 25 team in the Xcellent 25 national rankings
Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland), 50-48. The victory broke O’Dowd’s 21-game win streak.
The fantastic one-two backcourt duo of Josiah Turner and Travon Abraham helped the Sacramento boys to score a decisive 72-48 win over Sac-Joaquin Section rival Center (Antelope).
St. Mary's (Berkeley) also sent two teams on in Division IV.
Shine did it all with 27 points, eight rebounds and eight steals – and she made the go-ahead 3-point shot – a miraculous one – with 48 seconds left to put Sacramento (27-6) up for good.
With the shot-clock winding down, Shine made an acrobatic leaning 21-footer that banked home to give Sacramento a 50-48 lead. “I’m not ready for this season to end,” Shine told the Sacramento Bee.
Pepperdine-bound Robie Mayberry had 21 points and Cal-bound Mikayla Lyles 14 for O’Dowd (27-4), which had the last possession.
Lyles was blanketed by Shine, so she found Lariel Powell for a 12-footer that hit the back iron and fell off.
Sacramento now gets a third shot at St. Mary’s, an 85-59 winner over Valley Christian, for the Northern California champion on Saturday at Arco Arena in Sacramento.
St. Mary’s is the No. 1 team in the country and has defeated Sacramento twice this season, by scores of 97-55 and 75-45.
In the boys game, Turner, a 6-foot-3 junior scored 29 points and Abraham 26 as Sacramento won going away. Turner averages 28 points per game.
Sacramento’s faces Bishop O’Dowd in Saturday’s championship, also at Arco Arena.
Turner is considered one of the top juniors in the country and Abraham, a fourth-year starter, has committed to Rice.
Center, which ended its season at 28-4, got 17 points from Elliot Herald and 10 rebounds by Robert Garrett.
DIVISION I BOYS
De La Salle (Concord) 59, San Ramon Valley (Danville) 56
San Ramon Valley reserve guard Connor Kevorkian stole the ball in the corner, turned and took a 3-pointer at the game's buzzer.
John McArthur muscles up against San Ramon Valley.
Photo by Dennis Lee
"It was just like I've dreamed of," Kevorkian said.
Except the shot dipped into the basket and dipped out.
De La Salle had survived a memorable semifinal game before a packed house at McKeon Pavilion on the campus of St. Mary's College. The only thing missing was the miraculous shot.
The fourth meeting between East Bay Athletic League rivals surpassed three other nail-biters as both teams shot better than 50 percent from the field, combined for just 15 turnovers and were never separated by more than six points.
"I'm absolutely drained," De La Salle coach Frank Allocco said. "That's a game I was proud to be a part of win or lose."
Santa Clara-bound John McArthur had 21 points, Carlos Monroy 12 and Nate Appel 11 for top seed De La Salle (29-2) which moved into next week's championship against Newark Memorial, a 75-61 winner over Sheldon-Sacramento.
Tad Fisher had 18 points and Jordan Guisti 12 for San Ramon Valley (28-4), which shot a sizzling 22 of 41 from the field, but managed just 8-of-16 performance from the line.
In fact, that's where the game was clearly won. De La Salle made 18-of-19 from the stripe, including a make by Monroy on the front end of a one-and-one with 29.3 seconds left that hit the back of the rim, caromed high off the top of the backboard and fell in.
Two free throws by Appel with 2:18 left gave De La Salle the lead for good 53-51 and was part of a 9-0 run that wiped out a 51-46 deficit with 3:33 left.
"We were lucky to eek that one out," Allocco said. "I don’t know if you’d find a better high school game in the country tonight. That's one of the best game's I've ever been associated with."
There was no luck involved with Monroy's defense on EBAL co-MVP Chris McNealy, who finished with just eight points after going for 34 the last time the teams met on March 3, a 55-53 De La Salle win in the North Coast Section semifinals.
McNealy was 2-for-10 from the field and just 4-of-10 from the foul line.
“He’s the hardest guy to guard I’ve ever played,” said Monroy, who at 6-foot gave up five inches to McNealy, a sleek 6-5 Gary Payton lookalike. “I give him a lot of credit. He’s made me a better player.”
The San Ramon Valley packed contingent gave the Wolves a standing ovation even after defeat.
Photo by Dennis Lee
Kendall Andrews had 24 points and second-seed Newark Memorial (29-4) forced 25 turnovers in an easy win over Sheldon, which got 17 from Ramon Eaton and 16 by Darius Nelson, who had combined to score 73 in his previous two games.
Sheldon scored 29 points in the fourth quarter after the game had long been decided.
Khion Sankey had 16 points, Casey Norris 13 and Jisuan Randle 12 for Newark Memorial.
DIVISON I GIRLS
Berkeley (Berkeley) 52, Kennedy (Sacramento.) 47
Ashley Webster had 21 points, 15 in the second half, as top-seed and host Berkeley (27-3) defeated Kennedy-Sacramento. Brittany Boyd had 13 points and Jazmin Guinn made two free throws to clinch the win against a very game Kennedy squad (29-5), which got a combined 21 points from Leslie Leong and Shanice Butler.
Oak Ridge (El Dorado Hills) 65, Deer Valley (Antioch) 63
All-American candidate Sara James scored 28 points and made the game-winning shot with four seconds left, lifting the second-seeded Trojans (30-3) into the NorCal finals. Raven Fox had 22 for Deer Valley (24-8).
BOYS HIGHLIGHTS
In Division II, Woodcreek (Roseville) overcame a nine-point deficit in the final three minutes of regulation then pulled out a 91-83 overtime win at top-seed Archbishop Mitty (San Jose). Nike Milani, Ryan Sondhi and Mike Kurtz combined for 51 points for Woodcreek, offsetting a big 32-point effort from Mitty’s Stephen Meade. … Tyler Johnson had 20 points and Spencer Britschgi 15 as second-seed St. Francis (Mountain View) (29-3) defeated Oakmont (Roseville). … In Division III, Jason Barton had 14 points and 16 rebounds and top-seed Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland) (29-3) scored 16 straight points to start the fourth quarter to pull out a 52-38 victory over El Cerrito (27-5), which got 11 from Daniel Rice. … In Division IV, the defending state champion Salesian (Richmond) Pride (32-2) overcame a horrendous night at the line (14 or 33) to defeat Modesto Christian 69-65. Washington-bound Desmond Simmons was a one-man gang with 34 points and 20 rebounds for the winners. Alden Wampler had 23 for Modesto Christian (24-9). … Top-seed St. Mary's (Berkeley) (25-9), which upset Salesian in the North Coast Section finals, got 15 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks in a 58-44 win over St. Patrick/St. Vincent (Vallejo) (25-7), which had was outscored 28-10 in the fourth quarter. … In Division V, University (San Francisco) (28-7) fought back from a nine-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat defending champion St. Joseph Notre Dame (Alameda) 60-58 in overtime. Zack Karrasch had 15 points for University, but it was it was two buckets late by Ned Tannenbaum that sent the game into overtime. Brendan Keane had a game-high 18 points, Skyler Noble 13 and Jacari Whifield 12 for St. Joseph (26-9), which made just 4-of-16 free throws. … Adam Boone had 19 points as top-seed Branson (Ross) (24-6) defeated Head-Royce (Oakland) 50-39. Jeremiah Kreisberg had 19 points for Head Royce (26-5).
GIRLS HIGHLIGHTS
In Division II, Erica Payne had 24 points and eight rebounds, and Hannah Huffman and Erin Boettcher added 11 apiece as second-seed Carondelet (Concord) (26-5) scored a tough 63-51 win over third-seed Presentation (San Jose), which got 17 points from Nicolette Gilday. … Top-seed Archbishop Mitty (San Jose, Calif.) (26-5) received a monster game from 6-2 senior Elisabeth Gordon (26 points, 14 rebounds) in a 76-64 win over small but feisty Northgate (Walnut Creek) (27-5), which got 18 points and five 3-pointers from Tess Soper. … In Division III, Cal-bound Afure Jemerigbe had 19 points and six steals and Chelsea Gray added 16 points, six rebounds, five assists and five steals as St. Mary's (Stockton), the No. 1 team in the land, scored an 85-59 win over Valley Christian. … In Division IV, Cody Sims and Emily Vann combined for 27 points as top-seed St. Mary's (Berkeley) (30-3) recorded its fifth victory of the season over Piedmont (Piedmont) (25-9). … Third-seed and visiting McKinleyville (29-3) fought back from a 14-point deficit to knocked off Modesto Christian 50-44. There was a great matchup between McKinleyville’s Sage Romberg, an Oregon State-bound standout who scored 22 points, and Long Beach State-bound Brandi Henton added 24 for Modesto Christian. … In Division V, Jenna McLoughlin had 20 points and seven rebounds and Miranda Seto added 14 as top-seed Pinewood (Los Altos Hills) (25-6) defeated visting Branson (Ross) 51-40. … Bradshaw Christian (24-8), a 6-year-old school from Sacramento, moved into the finals with 50-39 win over Head-Royce (Oakland). Bradshaw is led by University of San Diego-bound Cheyenne Williams.
