LIVERMORE, CA – Brea-Olinda Coach Jeff Sink had to leave for Southern California early Friday morning for a family matter, but his assistant Stephanie Anderson filled in more than admirably in his absence.
The result was Brea-Olinda (10-3) came out smoking and didn’t stop en route to a 78-37 Gold Division title game victory over Vanden-Fairfield in the 17th annual West Coast Jamboree last Friday afternoon at Las Positas College.
“I had a great game plan for Vanden and Stephanie (Anderson) and the girls executed it perfectly,” Sink said in a text message.
It was 8-0 almost as fast as the blink of an eye after sophomore Stephanie Lee followed a basket by junior wing Tyiona Watkins with two 3-pointers to give Brea-Olinda all the momentum and it never changed. After Lee hit a third trey at the end of the first quarter and two more in the second quarter the Ladycats had an insurmountable 42-15 lead at halftime.
Lee had a game-high 22 points with the five 3-pointers and four rebounds, and Watkins finished with a double-double 21 points and 11 rebounds with five assists and three steals. Junior Jasmine Rachel added 17 points.
Watkins was named the winner of the coveted David “Scoop” Jackson award as the MVP of the Gold Division. Jackson is the founder of the Jamboree and currently serves on the Jamboree non-profit’s Board of Directors as the Treasurer.
Both Lee and Rachel were named to the All-Tournament Team.
Vanden just never got it going against the young Ladycats who start all underclass players and have just one senior on the roster.
University of Houston-bound Julia Blackshell-Fair had a team-high 14 points and seven rebounds but Sink’s defensive scheme Anderson and the Brea-Olinda girls implemented made her earn every point and rebound. Only five other girls scored led by the six points on two 3-pointers by junior Deirdra Huff.
In an emotional moment the prestigious Jim Capoot Memorial Award was presented to Vanden junior guard Myli Martinez. The Capoot plaque is given to the player that exemplifies the qualities of sportsmanship and inspiration Capoot demanded from his players while he was the coach at Vallejo High. Capoot was killed in the line of duty in 2011 while working his day job as a Vallejo police officer. Vanden Coach Allison Johnson was Capoot’s assistant when he was killed during the 2011-2012 season. Besides coaching Vanden Johnson is currently also the Secretary of the Jamboree’s Board of Directors.
In actuality, Brea-Olinda dominated a strong Gold Division field in an even more dramatic fashion than St. Mary’s-Stockton did in the Platinum Division. Prior to the big win over Vanden the Ladycats opened with a 61-19 win over Inderkum-Sacramento in the Jamboree Challenge. Next they opened bracket play with a 59-33 win over Woodside Priory-Portola Valley, followed that up with a 66-24 dismantling of a Heritage-Brentwood team that beat Campolindo in the fourth place game, and Campolindo has a win over the Platinum runner-up Salesian-Richmond team that upset a Platinum third place Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa team that has a 31-point win over Campolindo and now has two wins over a Sacred Heart Cathedral-San Francisco team that won the La Jolla Country Day Sweet 16 Invitational with a victory over Mission Hills-San Marcos in the title game. Whew!
With this year’s Jamboree championship Brea-Olinda stays one ahead of St. Mary’s-Stockton for the most all-time Jamboree titles with five. They won the Platinum Division in 2006, 2008 and 2009, and the Diamond Division last season when they went on to win the CIF Division I state championship.
Heritage upsets Campolindo for third place in Gold
As was sorted out at the end of the Gold Division championship re-cap the who beat who syndrome and the Prep2Prep CIF North Coast Section rankings where Heritage was No. 7 and Campolindo No. 6 but Campolindo beat Salesian after that ranking making them a bigger favorite.
The turned out to be a battle between an established star and an up and coming name to be reckoned with in a Heritage 83-77 victory.
Jordan Sweeney, the daughter of Jamboree Board of Directors member Kerry Sweeney, had the game of her life. The sophomore poured in a career-high 35 points including four 3-pointers. The slashing type 5-7 guard also got the calls she hadn’t gotten earlier in the week and was 12-for-12 from the free-throw line.
Senior guard Sunmi Da Silva nailed three 3-pointers and finished with 18 points and junior Lauren Campbell added 10 points.
Heritage (8-1) had Sweeney and Da Silva named to the All-Tournament.
Campolindo (10-4) got a huge game from Haley Van Dyke. The 6-0 junior that is one of two Northern California girls along with Myah Pace of Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland to play on the prestigious Team Taurasi club team out of Los Angeles, had 31 points. Junior guard Ashley Toms, the daughter of Campolindo Coach Art Thoms Jr. and granddaughter of former Oakland Raiders standout defensive tackle and assistant to his son, Art Thoms, had 18 points.
Van Dyke joined the two Heritage girls as an all-tourney selection.
The Platinum Division Consolation Championship was a battle between Sacramento rival powers McClatchy and Sacramento.
The game was close throughout but McClatchy pulled it out with a 49-46 victory despite losing Utah-bound star Jordan Cruz to an as yet undetermined possible knee injury. According to McClatchy Coach Jeff Ota an MRI was pending this week.
On the positive side for McClatchy (9-2) Courtesy Clark and Nia Lowery were named all-tourney. Cruz likely would have made all-tourney but it went to the girls that helped close out the Lions win over the Dragons.
Sacramento (6-6) had Anna Blount named to the all-tourney team
In the Gold Division Consolation Championship Woodside Priory (8-4) played a solid game to go 2-2 at the Jamboree with a 49-34 victory over Narbonne-Harbor City that followed the loss to Brea-Olinda and a 58-46 win over Antelope.
Sophomore 6-4 post Ila Lane and junior guard Tatiana Reese made All-Tournament.
Narbonne (5-4) had senior Kemanie Patterson selected all-tourney.
