Modesto Christian hosts local, NorCal best at 25th Holiday Hoop Classic
The 25th Annual Modesto Christian Holiday Hoop Classic brought some of the top teams in California to Sisk Road for four days of high-level basketball. The Crusaders along with Stanislaus District schools Enochs, Downey, Gregori, Beyer, Turlock and Ripon Christian took on teams from the Bay Area and Central Section for one final litmus test before starting play in their respective leagues.
The tournament featured a number of one-score and one-point thrillers including a double overtime game between Liberty of Bakersfield and Edison of Stockton on the opening day.
On the final day of action, Enochs continued its stellar start to the season by taking home the Consolation Championship. The Eagles fell to Amador Valley on the opening day of the tournament but beat Venture Academy, CCAL foe Turlock (62-60) and Bullard of Fresno (55-54) in the consolation championship game. The Eagles enter their final week of non-league play an impressive 13-3 and, led by Louie Dill and Joseph Ponteras, look like a top contender in the CCAL.
Buchanan beat Clayton Valley Charter to take home third place on Saturday night in the game before the tournament championship.
To get to the final game of the tournament, Modesto Christian beat Ripon Christian, Liberty of Bakersfield and Clayton Valley Charter, at the time the No. 20 team in California, in a low scoring 32-31 affair.
In the title game, Liberty, which beat Turlock, Gregori and Buchanan to reach the final, came out hot, connecting on four first-quarter threes. Early in the second quarter, five straight Trevor Dickson points gave the Crusaders a 20-17 and Modesto Christian went into halftime with a 36-29 advantage. The Crusaders led 57-51 at the end of the third quarter, but Liberty outscored the hosts 20-9 in the final frame to take home the championship with a 71-66 win.
All Tournament Team:
MVP — Jaiden Miller, Liberty (Brentwood)
Brendan Beresford, Liberty (Brentwood)
Andrew Rendon-Ibarra, Liberty (Brentwood)
Somto Patrick, Modesto Christian
Brayden Harris, Buchanan
Louie Dill, Enochs
Escalon two-way star hits basketball milestone
Just weeks after making good on her verbal commitment to play Division I softball at the University of Arizona, Escalon’s Madi Babasa reached a milestone on the basketball court. The senior guard scored her 1,000th career points in the opening game of the MST Gallo Tournament at Central Catholic. Babasa scored 19 points and added four rebounds and four steals in a 63-19 win over River Islands. Babasa is a four-year varsity player who went from averaging 1.4 points as a freshman to 15.7 through the first 12 games of her senior season.
Babasa and the Cougars kick off Trans-Valley League play with back-to-back home games against Sonora and Hilmar Jan. 6 and 9, respectively.
Riverbank girls end 2025 with tournament championship
The Riverbank girls basketball team shook off back-to-back losses with four straight victories to end the 2025 calendar year. It was a year full of highs and lows.
They finished second in the Mother Lode League and made the Division IV championship in February then lost four starters this offseason to graduation. They returned for the 2025-26 season and started 2-2 before winning four straight contests to start December.
They ended the year on a high note, winning the Pitman Holiday Classic with three straight double-digit victories over Mt. Diablo, Merced and Mountain House.
The Bruins beat Mountain House in the tournament championship 61-30, powered by a 35-point, 12-steal double-double on Dec. 29 by Leilani Olanolan. It was her second points-steals double-double of the three-day tournament after recording 30 points and 13 steals in the tournament opener.
She was named tournament MVP while Isa Fernandez and Paloma Reyes made the All-Tournament team. Fernandez recorded 15 points in the opener and added 11 rebounds in game 2 and nine rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocks in the championship. Reyes scored 24 points with five threes in the second game and had 10 points with seven steals in the championship.
Long ball locks up 1K points for Ceres’ Staggs
A wing three by Ceres High Lilly Staggs marked the senior’s 1,000th career varsity points. The guard split time between Gregori and Ceres with her final two seasons coming in the Bulldogs’ red and white. Last season, she averaged 13.8 points as the team’s leading scorer while adding a team-high 3.3 steals. The team went 22-8, finished second in the WAC and earned a 48-30 first-round upset win as the No. 10 seed against No. 7 Los Banos.
She hit the milestone in the Bulldogs’ 55-48 non-league win over CCAL opponent Pitman. The Bulldogs are 7-6 after finishing up non-league play but are riding a three-game win streak into their first three league games this week against Livingston, Johansen and Lathrop, respectively.
Pitman star overcomes injury to score 1,000th career point
Dailynn Greener is in the midst of her third-straight double-figure scoring season and doesn’t plan on slowing down. The Pitman High senior guard just got cleared from knee surgery at the beginning of this season and has scored in double figures in 10 of 13 games with five 20-point games and a 29-point, 11-rebound double-double.
In their 12th game of the season and the opening game of the Pitman Holiday Classic, Greener poured in 21 points in a 50-42 win, leading the Pride over Argonaut and securing her 1,000th career points along the way. In a program that has had a lot of team success in the past, Greener is just the third Pitman girls basketball player in program history to reach the milestone, joining Jasmine Washington and Kaylin Randhawa.
Greener could have hit the mark last season, but about halfway through the campaign, she tore her ACL and meniscus. So far this season, she is averaging 15.8 points, 1.6 assists and 2.1 steals, all are team highs.
The Pride finish non-league play this week against Buhach Colony before opening CCAL play against Modesto and Enochs.
