Modesto Christian’s White is Bee’s 2015 Girls Basketball Player of the Year

Last season, as a junior, Candice White was part of the Modesto Christian High School girls basketball team that won the CIF Division III state title.

Though she practiced with the team, White missed the majority of the games because of a knee injury and played in only three contests – the final two games of the Northern California regional tournament and the state final.

Would the Crusaders have won it all without a contribution from White? That can’t be determined. But this much is virtually certain: Modesto Christian would not have repeated as a Sac-Joaquin Section champion without her.

“She meant everything to us,” coach Robb Spencer said. “She was calm, humble, competitive; she has character. All her teammates love her.

“She’s a special kid.”

Because White was the foundation of the area’s most successful and dominant team, she’s been named the 2015 Stanislaus District Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

White averaged 17.4 points, 8.1 rebounds and 3.2 steals per game while leading the Crusaders to the Division II section title. Because MC played in the Division I Modesto Metro Conference, the school was prohibited from moving any lower than Division II for the playoffs. Therefore, the Crusaders couldn’t defend their D-III section and state crowns.

Instead, MC was placed in D-II, where it annihilated previously undefeated Kimball 68-31 in the section title game. As a reward, the Crusaders were moved to the Open Division – the state’s toughest – for the Northern California regional and drew a first-round date with top-seeded St. Mary’s, a team ranked No. 1 in California, No. 2 in the nation and owner of a 26-point victory over MC earlier in the season.

That’s hardly a show of respect for a reigning state champion.

“Us seniors, we were kind of confused,” said White, who becomes the fifth MC player in six years to be named The Bee’s Player of the Year. “We didn’t know how it all added up. But, at the end of the day, it wasn’t really that bad to me. I looked at it like, ‘Oh, they think we’re one of the best teams in Northern California.’”

And it was White’s team, from start to finish.

“It kind of came naturally,” White said of her leadership role. “The seniors left, I’m a senior now, it’s just my team, and my fellow seniors’ team.”

But just because this postseason run was shorter than last year’s didn’t mean the squad was any less talented.

“A lot of people will think that because we didn’t win state this year that last year’s team was better,” said White, who accepted a scholarship to play at Fresno State. “Last year’s team had a little more size, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they were better.”

Besides, this season’s team had something last season’s unit did not – a state championship ring in the jewelry box, and all the experience that comes with grinding out a state title. Last season’s team didn’t have the luxury of such experience. This season’s team knew how good it could be.

“I think it carried us,” White said. “In the back of our minds, we knew we were a good team.”

The next challenge for White will be the college game. Her sister, Cierra White, a 2012 Beyer graduate, plays at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho, where one of her teammates is former MC star Lexi Tubbs, last year’s Player of the Year.

One reason White chose Fresno State is that it is close to home and would be a manageable trip for her family.

White’s mother comes from a family of six boys and six girls, and her dad from a family of six boys, and White has “tons of cousins.”

“I just enjoyed the campus, the people seemed friendly, the basketball coaches were super nice and really liked the arena,” White said. “When I was in the Save Mart Center, I could picture my family – I have a huge extended family – I could picture them in the stands.”

This story was originally published March 28, 2015 at 10:51 PM with the headline "Modesto Christian’s White is Bee’s 2015 Girls Basketball Player of the Year."