Basketball notes: Gregori girls shooting for strong league finish; new teams enter top 10
The Gregori High girls basketball team set a goal of going 10-0 in league play, and as of Monday, it’s well on its way.
After a dominant 59-14 win to start the second half of Central California Athletic League play, the Jaguars are 6-0 against league opponents this season and have won their last six contests.
If they can accomplish that, their next goal is to win a first-round playoff game, something the Jaguars haven’t done since the 2012-13 season. They went 25-2 that season and finished 12-0 in the Modesto Metro Conference. That’s not a coach-driven goal — the players got together and set the standard themselves. It’s just one of the many things head coach Marissa Shull appreciates about her squad.
Three of the Jaguars’ four leading scorers from last season returned for their junior season. Not only are they a year older with more skill, strength and experience, they are driven by the way their sophomore campaigns ended. The Jaguars were 16-13 overall and 7-3 in league play. While it was enough to make the postseason, it was third in the CCAL. They finished league play 2-3 and fell in the first round to Lodi.
It was the topic of Shull’s pregame conversation ahead of the Turlock game. Last year, they entered the second half of the CCAL schedule 5-0 before the team, as Shull described it, “hit a wall” the final few games of the season. This year, they again entered the second half of league play 5-0.
“For our juniors and our sophomores, this is where we were last year,” she said. “That was a good conversation before this game and we just told them, ‘You guys are in the driver’s seat at this point. You have to decide what you’re gonna do with it.’”
Shull said they haven’t forgotten and have done their part to make sure this season is different. They saw different kinds of teams in the nonleague play, so they’re ready for anything CCAL opponents throw at them. They’ve bonded off the court, taking time to visit Shull in her classroom and spending time with one another between classes and on New Year’s Eve.
“There’s team bonding, there’s respect towards each other and they’re having a good time,” Shull said. “We haven’t organized anything. It’s all led by them.”
Because Gregori will likely finish in one of the league’s top three spots, it will advance to the playoffs as one of the section’s automatic qualifiers. The Jaguars are a top-five team in The Bee’s rankings and a top-20 team in the MaxPreps Division I section rankings. They finish CCAL play with games against Downey, Modesto, Enochs and Pitman.
Riverbank duo making an impact
Coach Janelle Luu knew her superstar duo would work after their first summer game.
The first time Taylor Macias and Leilani Olanolan competed together, they knew it, too.
Riverbank girls basketball had something special.
The Bruins have two premier guards who fill up the stat sheet, leading the team in points, assists, steals and blocks. They’ve led The Bee’s No. 1 team to a 19-3 overall record and a perfect record in the Mother Lode League.
Olanolan moved into the area and is a transfer from St. Mary’s. A junior, she’s getting her first varsity experience this season after playing JV for the Rams last season. She plays high-level travel ball and felt ready for the added pressure. She said it also helped that the team embraced her.
“Coming to Riverbank was scary at first, but the first day I came to school, I just fit so closely with the girls,” she said after a league win over Calaveras. “I created a bond with each of them. We’re like a family.”
Olanolan, in her first season, steps in for guard Chancis Gamez, who ran the show last season. Her running mate, however, is no stranger to the Bruins. Macias is a four-year varsity starter who, on Friday, eclipsed 1,500 career points, setting a school record. She and Olanolan complement each other. When one gets going, it’s her day. If one struggles, the other makes up for it.
“The first game, we clicked,” Macias said. “The first game, we knew how to play with each other. I just knew we were going to work well together once we had that first summer ball game together.”
They’ve been so good this season, teams have gotten creative when defending them. They throw junk defenses like a box-and-one and triangle-and-two against the Bruins to throw them off their game. Bret Harte tried, Riverbank won by three. Friday night, Calaveras tried to box-and-one Olanolan, and Macias went for 23 points with six made threes.
Macias, Olanolan and the Bruins are working on a perfect Mother Lode League record and are the No. 1 ranked team in the MaxPreps Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV rankings. They have three league games remaining, including a final matchup against Bret Harte on Feb. 11.
Stanislaus District basketball players set personal, school records
Ripon Christian junior guard Jake Vander Veen became one of the newest members of the 1,000-point club after scoring 20 points in a 55-31 TVL win over Sonora on Friday, Jan. 24. On the season, he’s averaging 19.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.3 steals per game and has the Knights sitting at second in the TVL behind Ripon. The two sides meet in a rivalry game Thursday at Ripon at 7:30 p.m.
Here are some other notable performances and school records that have been broken during the second half of league play across the Stanislaus District:
▪ Beyer boys basketball set a school record during WAC play, winning 13 straight games. They are 21-3 on the season.
▪ Modesto JC guard Ylon Esso scored 40 points in a win over Folsom Lake in one of the top individual scoring performances in school history. He recently received offers from San Jose State, UC Davis and UCSB so far.
▪ MJC is No. 7 in California with a 20-3 overall record and an 11-0 conference record.
▪ Senior Kaliyanei Saykao and junior Reagan Jamison have led the Davis girls basketball team to a 21-2 overall record. It is the first 20-win season since 2011-12. Saykao has scored 56 total points in their last two wins and Jamison has added 38. Saykao has scored 452 total points this season as of Tuesday.
▪ Pitman head coach Harvey Marable reached win No. 300 in the Pride’s league victory over Enochs. He has been Pitman’s only head coach. Before joining the Pride, he coached Hughson’s girls.
▪ Riverbank’s Taylor Macias set a record for most career points in Friday’s win. She has 1,500 points and counting. She is on pace to break the record for single-season points (519) and set the record for single-game points earlier this year (48).
▪ Downey’s Trey Richards set a single-game school record for points by a freshman, scoring 28 against Modesto High.
▪ Pitman guard Cole Martin hit the 1,000-point mark after a 16-point effort in a 58-41 win over Downey.
▪ In addition to holding the Pitman career points record, senior guard Avery Sanchez has school records in three-pointers made, assists, steals and is tied for most career wins.
▪ Modesto Christian guard Gavin Sykes scored 37 points against Oak Park, the No. 1 team in Missouri and a top-25 ranked team nationally. It is his second time scoring over 35 points this season.
▪ The Riverbank girls basketball team is on pace to win 20 games for the third straight season — its best three-year stretch in over 20 years.
Key boys and girls upcoming games through the last two weeks of league play
Wednesday, Feb. 5
Boys: Enochs at Turlock in a CCAL matchup
Boys: Beyer at Davis in a WAC matchup
Boys: Modesto Christian at Lincoln in a TCAL matchup
Thursday, Feb. 6
Boys: Ripon Christian at Ripon in a TVL matchup
Friday, Feb. 7
Boys: Central Valley at Johansen in a WAC matchup
Boys: Enochs at Pitman in a CCAL matchup
Boys: Ripon at Sonora in a TVL matchup
Girls: Ripon Christian at Escalon in a TVL matchup
Monday, Feb. 10
Boys: Gregori at Enochs in a CCAL matchup
Boys: Turlock at Pitman
Girls: Ceres at Davis in a WAC matchup
Tuesday, Feb. 11
Girls: Escalon at Ripon in a TVL matchup
Girls: Riverbank at Bret Harte in a MLL matchup
Girls: Enochs at Gregori in a CCAL matchup
Girls: Ceres at Beyer in a WAC matchup
Wednesday, Feb. 12
Boys: Ripon at Escalon in a TVL matchup
Boys: Beyer at Ceres in a WAC matchup
Boys: Pitman at Gregori in a CCAL matchup
Boys: Modesto Christian at St. Mary’s in a TCAL matchup
Boys: Manteca at Central Catholic in a VOL matchup
Thursday, Feb. 13
Girls: Enochs at Downey in a CCAL matchup
Girls: Gregori at Pitman in a CCAL matchup
Friday, Feb. 14
Boys: Johansen at Davis in a WAC matchup
Boys: Ripon Christian at Sonora in a TVL matchup
Boys: Johansen at Davis in a WAC matchup
Boys: Central Valley at Ceres in a WAC matchup
Stanislaus District Boys and Girls top 10 Rankings
Boys
Previous rank in parenthesis before school name; record in parenthesis after school name
Records through Tuesday, Feb. 4
1. (1) Modesto Christian (18-7)
2. (2) Pitman (22-2)
3. (3) Gregori (19-5)
4. (6) Beyer (21-3)
5. (4) Enochs (15-8)
6. (5) Central Catholic (14-10)
7. (7) Ripon Christian (18-5)
8. (8) Johansen (17-7)
9. (NR) Ripon (15-9)
10. (NR) Davis (16-8)
Girls
Previous rank in parenthesis before school name; record in parenthesis after school name
Records through Tuesday, Feb. 4
1. (1) Riverbank (20-3)
2. (3) Davis (21-3)
3. (2) Patterson (19-7)
4. (4) Ceres (19-6)
5. (5) Gregori (16-9)
6. (7) Beyer (15-8)
7. (6) Escalon (14-10)
8. (8) Ripon (15-9)
9. (9) Orestimba (11-11)
10. (10) Downey (10-11)
