OAKLAND, Calif. – The Seventh Annual Bishop O’Dowd MLK Classic kicked off two days of action on Saturday with six games that included four teams ranked in the Cal-Hi Sports TOP 30 rankings, and another three teams that were on what is called the Bubble which includes 26 additional teams.
The festivities not only included the six quality matchups but prior to each game players from each team read either an original poem, a poem written by someone else, quotes, and one year a song was sung by one of the players. All the presentations are done in honor and memory of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Big second half propels Salesian past Sacred Heart Cathedral
The game involving the Cal-Hi Sports highest ranked team the MLK Classic field ended up as the game with the largest margin of victory of the six games and it wasn’t the ranked team that won. The winner was a Bubble team Salesian-Salesian that used a pressing second half defense to overpower No. 18 Sacred Heart Cathedral-San Francisco in a 55-35 victory in which the Pride held the Fightin Irish to only 12 second half points.
Senior Janiyah Sawyer led Salesian (12-6) with a game-high 18 points (three three-pointers) plus seven rebounds, four assists, four steals and two blocks. For here efforts she was named the Salesian MVP for the game. Her twin sister, Jamia Sawyer, added 11 points (one three-pointer) and nine rebounds. Senior guard Vanessa Padilla had a solid outing after finishing with 17 points. Both of Padilla’s three-pointers and 14 of her points came inn the second half.
Sacred Heart Cathedral (11-3) led 13-11 after one quarter, and then opened the second quarter with a 7-0 run to take their largest lead at 18-11, but it was at that point that Salesian started to turn things around and by halftime it was tied at 22-apiece.
Salesian came out in the second half in a full court press and the Fightin Irish were unable to respond. The Pride outscored Sacred Heart Cathedral 14-3 inn the third quarter to take a 36-25 lead into the final period, and then extended the run to 20-3, and at 45-27 the game was all but decided.
“We looked at film from the last couple of games and saw that we could press their ballhandlers and the girls responded,” remarked Salesian head coach Stephen Pezzola.
Senior Maddie Eade earned MVP honors for Sacred Heart Cathedral after finishing with a team-high 10 points. Sophomore Kaylen Alysa Edora came off the bench to connect on two three-pointers and finished with eight points.
The pre-game presentations honoring the memory of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were made by Sacred Heart Cathedral senior Aniyah Versosa, and for Salesian it was sophomores Paula Holloway and Oriannah Birden, and freshman Lauren Ochong.
Host O’Dowd falters in stretch against Riordan
Cal-Hi Sports No. 26 Archbishop Riordan-San Francisco trailed 38-30 entering the fourth quarter and didn’t take the lead in the game until junior Zion McGuire scored to make it 41-40 with 55.7 seconds left to play. From there the Crusaders got successive stops, and host and Bubble team Bishop O’Dowd had to foul. Sophomore Trenia Dunbar made two free throws, and the Riordan defense closed things out in a 43-40 victory.
McGuire led Riordan (11-4) with a team high 10 points, including six in a fourth quarter that saw the Crusaders outscore the Dragons 13-2. For her efforts she was named the Riordan MVP for the game. Dunbar added nine points.
Bishop O’Dowd (9-6) could not buy a basket in the fourth quarter and their only tallies came at the free-throw line where they made two of four attempts. Junior Jayla Stokes led O’Dowd with a game high 13 points with two three-pointers, however she only had lone free throw in the final period. Stokes was named the O’Dowd MVP for the game.
The pre-game presentations honoring the memory of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were made by Dunbar for Riordan and for O’Dowd it was senior Simdi Chukwu.
Last second shot gets Priory past San Joaquin Memorial
With the game tied 54-54 and with Priory-Portola Valley (12-3) looking for a way to score with only 5.4 seconds remaining, senior Natalie Neumann advanced the ball to around five feet behind the half court line and launched a three-pointer that touched nothing but net and the Cal-Hi Sports No. 23 ranked Panthers escaped with a 57-54 victory over Bubble team San Joaquin Memorial-Fresno.
The committee that chose the MVP recipients had already decided to give Priory junior Ugreat Daniels the award after she scored eight of her 12 points in the fourth quarter, however that changed with the swish by Neumann. She ended up draining four three-pointers and finished with a team-high 16 points to earn the game MVP honors for Priory. Senior Vienn Sheng added nine points on three three-pointers.
San Joaquin Memorial (13-5) got a solid performance from Siena Evans. She came on strong after Memorial fell behind 45-36 early in the fourth quarter and scored 13 of her game high 24 points, including all three three-pointers, in the final stanza. Sophomore Gia Souza added 15 points including two three-pointers. Evans was an obvious choice for game MVP for San Joaquin Memorial.
The pre-game presentations honoring the memory of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were made by senior Alexa Perryman for San Joaquin Memorial and junior Jordyn Moss for Priory.
Slow start dooms Oakland Tech
Oakland Tech came out sluggish, trailed 9-0 early and 18-5 after the first quarter, and by the time they tried to rally in the late third quarter, trailing 49-26, it was way too in what turned out to be a 56-40 loss to Centennial-Las Vegas, the top team in Nevada.
Junior Jhai Johnson led Oakland Tech (10-7) with 19 points (one three-pointer) and was named the Bulldogs MVP for the game.
Centennial (12-2) got a game-high 22 points including six three-pointers from junior Sanai Branch to earn her the team’s game MVP honors. Sophomore Nation Williams added a double-double 18 points and 12 rebounds.
The pre-game presentations honoring the memory of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were made by senior Ayla Williams of Centennial, and senior Tai Ana Huff and junior Kiara McCoy of Oakland Tech.
California-San Ramon 59, St. Mary’s-Berkeley 45
California (11-6) got a game-high 17 points from Lauren Yee to earn the senior game MVP honors for the Grizzlies. Senior Sofie Addiego added 16 points and seniors Mary Dilling and Taylor Lim each had 10 points.
St. Mary’s (10-11) was led by senior Tatiana Wilson with 12 points to earn her the Panthers game MVP honors. Senior Neiyah Thompson and junior Gabby Clement added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
The pre-game presentations honoring the memory of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were made by junior Olivia Horton for California and Wilson for St. Mary’s.
Castro Valley 53, Tracy 52
The early morning opener of the MLK Classic went to Castro Valley (7-10) in a game that was close from start to finish. Junior Victorio Feliciano earned game MVP honors for Castro Valley after finishing with 14 points, including nine in the fourth quarter. Junior Ava Hinrichsen and senior Sofia Tom added 14 and 12 points, respectively.
Tracy (7-9) got 18 points from senior Kyrrahlynn Dowell, its MVP for the game. Senior Elisa Galli added 12 points.
The pre-game presentations honoring the memory of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were made by freshman Mya Rufino Williams of Castro Valley and senior Lucia Cavlan of Tracy.
