Riverbank suffers heartbreak in season-ending loss in NorCal D-IV first round
In her final address to the Riverbank girls basketball team after a loss in the CIF Northern California Regional Division IV Playoffs, Bruins head coach Janelle Luu made sure to address the team’s “pillars.”
As tears flowed, Luu thanked Taylor Macias, Alexis Felix, Aliyah Felix and her younger sister Avah Luu for the time they put in over the past four years as they became the building blocks of what she hopes the future of Riverbank girls basketball will be.
“I’m getting choked up right now because their careers have been amazing,” she said. “They’ve done more in four years than anyone’s done at the school. They’ve been remarkable (players) and they’ve been remarkable kids. Any success we have after this is on the backs of those four.”
They have been to a pair of section championships, made three straight Northern California regional playoff appearances and captured shares of league titles in the Trans-Valley League and Mother Lode League together. But on Tuesday at home, they saw their run end.
The Bruins, who fell in the Sac-Joaquin Section title game Saturday at Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center to Liberty Ranch, were awarded the No. 4 seed in the NorCal D-IV bracket and hosted No. 13 Castilleja of Palo Alto in the first round.
They lost in a heartbreaker in a back-and-forth 44-43 game, ending the season with a 25-6 overall record.
“It was a great ride,” Luu said. “I’m very proud and I hope it inspires the younger generation to be just as hungry as those four.”
Riverbank started slowly but came alive in the second quarter, turning an 11-7 deficit after one quarter into a 22-18 halftime lead. By the end of the third quarter, Castilleja led 32-30 and the sides traded baskets for the entire fourth quarter, with neither team taking more than a four-point lead.
Despite struggling to score all night, the Bruins still had a chance to win. With seconds left, Leilani Olanolan drove left and, at the free-throw line, slipped a bounce pass to Luu, who banked in what many in the gym thought was the game-winning layup with just 3.5 seconds left.
Needing to go the length of the court to score, the Gators got the ball to Antonia Vlahos, their leading scorer and emotional leader, who took two dribbles along the sideline in front of the Riverbank bench against the Bruins’ full-court pressure. Because they were already at the foul limit, the Bruins did everything they could to avoid putting the Gators on the line for two free throws, but the back official called a foul directly in front of coach Luu and the Riverbank bench. Vlahos capped her 13-point night with a pair of game-winning free throws with 1.1 seconds left.
“They played really hard and sometimes the calls don’t go your way,” Luu said. “I think we played good defense there. She did exactly what I wanted her to do, it’s just the whistle blew and they knocked down two good free throws.”
Macias scored a game-high 18 points in her final game as a Bruin, Alexis Felix added eight points, Olanolan played through illness and added seven points, Avah Luu scored six points and Aliyah Felix added four.
“They fought till the very end and that’s what you want as a coach,” Luu said. “You don’t want 30- or 40-point blowouts. When you get down, you want to fight. I’m really proud that they did that.”
The disappointment from Saturday’s section championship matchup against Liberty Ranch carried over to Tuesday, Luu said.
Practice Monday wasn’t the same, and that may have contributed to the Bruins’ slow start.
“Their hearts were broken,” she said. “Thursday broke their hearts and at practice yesterday, they worked hard but it was like some of the emotion was gone and I think you saw that tonight. I think it was one of our lowest-scoring games of the season, the ball wasn’t falling.”
The Bruins garnered a ton of emotional and physical energy to come back last Thursday at Golden 1 Center to make it a five-point game.
“So many emotions on Thursday and to bounce back with just one practice was really hard,” Luu said. “But they fought until the very end.
“It’s just another gut punch in less than a week.”
Boys Basketball
No. 5 Berkeley 64, No. 12 Ripon Christian 61: Jake Vander Veen (22 points), Mason Tameling (18) and Amos Cady (10) each scored in double figures as the Knights’ comeback fell just short. They fell behind 25-5 on the road against Berkeley High in the D-VI NorCal playoffs but ended the frame on a 7-0 run. The Knights outscored the Yellowjackets 49-39 in the final three quarters. The Knights’ season ends with a 24-7 overall record and their seventh straight appearance in the NorCal playoffs.
Boys Soccer
No. 1 Pitman 3, No. 8 Westmont 2 (OT): Fresh off winning the program’s first section title, the Pride secured their first ever win in the Northern California regional tournament. The Pride, the No. 1 team in the Division II bracket, benefited from a pair of second-half goals and a score in overtime to secure the win. Both teams went into halftime scoreless, then lit up the net in the second half. It is their third straight playoff game that went to extra time. Pitman hosts No. 5 Cardinal Newman on Thursday at Joe Debely Stadium at 5 p.m.
Girls Soccer
No. 2 Ripon Christian 3, No. 7 Granite Hills 0: Addison Dejong, Kylie Koolhaas and Brooke Barnes each scored for Ripon Christian in the first round of the Division V NorCal tournament. Morgan Schenk earned the shutout and collected four saves in the win. The Knights take on No. 3 Oakland Tech at home March 6 in the D-V regional semifinals.
No. 3 Bakersfield Christian 1, No. 6 Oakdale 0: Avery Alves tallied five saves for the Mustangs but a goal for Bakersfield Christian in the Division III NorCal first-round matchup. The Oakdale finishes the season 17-11-2 overall and with back-to-back section title game appearances.
