It's time for the CIF state championships in basketball and soccer (first time for soccer) in Sacramento on Friday and Saturday. Basketball will be played at Golden 1 Center. Soccer is at Natomas High.
It was the quickest six points I've ever witnessed in my life. Off the basket, Norwich took the ball out with two timeouts in the chamber. Smid smothered her matchup on the inbound pass, eventually coming up with a steal and a short bank shot to tie the game. Norwich took the ball out again -- and once again, Smid collected another steal.
Santa Margarita 75, #4 Redondo Union 71; #3 Santa Maria St. Joseph 66, #6 Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 60. #1 Sierra Canyon, bye; #2 Harvard-Westlake, bye. Quarterfinals in Division I-V are Thursday, March 5 at higher seeds; Semifinals in all divisions are Saturday, March 7 at higher seeds; Finals are Tuesday March 10 at higher seeds.
Rebranded as Brave Christian, the boys basketball program has surged into relevance behind a roster reshaped by improved talent and elevated by two international players from the Ivory Coast - freshman star JP Oka and sophomore Adama Kone - who have quickly become among the area's most intriguing talents. Driving the vision is coach Joe Fuca, a former executive at DocuSign and basketball architect intent on building more than a winning season.
Ontario Christian opened the season ranked No. 1 in the country and Griffin is one reason why. The 5-foot-11 forward was named 2024-25 MaxPreps national freshman of the year after helping the Knights go 30-2 and knock off Etiwanda 65-63 to win the Southern Section Open Division crown before losing to the Eagles 67-62 in the Open Division regional finals. Griffin had 29 points and 11 rebounds in the first game and added 16 points and 10 rebounds in the rematch last March.
Sierra Canyon, ranked No. 1 in high school basketball in the Southland, traveled to Springfield College on Saturday for the Hoophall Classic and came away with a 75-58 win over Miami Columbus. Brandon McCoy earned game MVP honors by scoring 24 points and collecting 10 rebounds. Maxi Adams also had 24 points. Sierra Canyon (18-1) has an even bigger test coming on Wednesday in Mission League play when it faces defending champion Harvard-Westlake (21-2) in a home game that should be sold out quickly.
As the clock ticked down late in the fourth quarter with the outcome long decided, Redondo Union senior guard Devin Wright caught a pass off the backboard from teammate Chace Holley in midair and stuffed it through the hoop two-handed - the exclamation point to an emphatic 85-51 victory over archival Mira Costa on Friday night. Wright finished with a game-high 23 points - most of them on layups while cutting to the basket - small forward SJ Madison scored 19,
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Ashley Saban scored 22 points against The King's Academy, 25 against Lynbrook and 23 in a win over Del Mar as Leigh went 3-0 last week. Across the three games, Saban averaged more than 23 points, three steals and three assists per game. This article is only available to subscribers Offer valid for non-subscribers only
There was no sugarcoating how disappointed Brentwood players and coaches felt last week in suffering a 16-point drubbing by Crossroads in their Gold Coast League opener. Adding to that, the player inflicting the most damage was former Brentwood standout Shalen Sheppard. "I was mad," Brentwood center Ethan Hill said. So Tuesday's road game at Windward would reveal if the Eagles had learned some lessons. And they did, getting a bounce back 68-60 win.
Inglewood is 18-5 and 4-0 in the Ocean League. The Sentinels will be a Division 1 playoff team. Crowe is 17 years old and still beating up on players who were held back a grade or two. He made seven threes and got his share of assists to 6-foot-7 junior David Conerly, who scored 20 points. Crowe has scored more than 4,000 points in his career.
Junior guard Zaire Rasshan of Damien knows football. His father, Osaar, was a backup quarterback at UCLA from 2005-09. Rasshan played quarterback his freshman season at Damien until deciding basketball was his No. 1 sport. So when Rasshan looked up at the scoreboard Thursday night at Etiwanda in the first quarter and saw the Spartans up 24-0, he had to think football.
The program checks in at No. 2 in the nation after picking up three ranked wins over Southeastern Prep (Fla.), AZ Compass Prep (Ariz.) and Faith Family (Texas). Kevin Boyle is in his first year leading Spire Academy, following a dominant tenure at Montverde Academy (Fla.). Principia (Miss.) and Bartlett (Tenn.) have both played their way into the Top 25 after standout performances at the City of Palms Classic.
With a week to go before opening the Trinity League with a showdown against St. John Bosco at home, Santa Margarita continued its preparation Friday night, defeating defending state Open Division champion Eastvale Roosevelt 65-49 at JSerra. The Eagles are 18-2 and have one final tuneup Saturday against Fairfax at St. Francis before facing the Braves on Jan. 9. Santa Margarita almost lost a big lead in the second half before prevailing. The Eagles led 16-2 to start the game.
