WALNUT CREEK, CA – With the Cal Stars Nike EYBL and 16U EYBL teams competing at the Boo Williams Nike EYBL national tournament in Hampton, Virginia, and the San Jose Cagers Blue shorthanded, the only Northern California team in a position to win a title in one of the top two Divisions of the 17U portion of the 4th Annual Elite is Earned Spring Showcase at the Ultimate Fieldhouse was the Cal Stars 17 Elite Navy team.
The Stars Navy girls were outsized but still had the game somewhat in hand until a couple of key mistakes down the stretch cost them in a 62-60 loss to Idaho Hoopdreams Black in the championship game of the Flex Division.
With the game tied 60-60, and after a Stars Navy turnover with 14.3 seconds left, incoming junior Trinity Slocum of Mountain View-Boise whipped a perfect thread the needle pass to her Mountain View teammate Naya Ojukwu and the incoming sophomore made a layup at the buzzer as the Hoopdreams bench and fans erupted.
Stars Navy led 51-43 with 6:30 left and was still up 58-53 with 2:10 left after a basket by incoming senior Elizabeth Pettingill of Folsom, but from there out the Stars Navy had three turnovers and were outscored 7-2 with the two points by Pettingill.
Incoming San Ramon Valley 5-11 senior wing Audrey Bayston had a very solid all-around game off the bench to finish with 13 points with one three-pointer. Pettingill tied her with 13 points with one three-pointer.
St. Joseph Notre Dame incoming senior star Malia Mastora nailed two three pointers and had 12 points but only three rebounds for a Stars Navy team that was outrebounded 32-24. California incoming senior Erica Adams had seven points, incoming St. Joseph Notre Dame 5-11 senior wing Sophie Nilsson had six points and a team-high five rebounds.
Peyton McFarland, a 6-4 incoming senior from Boise High, looked good for a girl that missed last summer with a knee injury. She definitely impressed the college coaches sitting at courtside with no vacant seats. McFarland had a game-high double-double 19 points and 11 rebounds, and finished most of her shots around the basket with her left hand but was 3-of-4 from the free-throw line using her right hand.
Ojukwu, who looks like a promising young player, had 13 points seven rebounds and three assists, incoming Mountain View senior Laila Saenz nailed three three-pointers and finished with 11 points and four rebounds, Slocum only had four points but she had four assists and three steals and played solid defense.
San Jose Cagers U14 makes a statement and shorthanded Blue do well
While no California teams won a bracket, the game on the main court prior to the Stars Navy versus Idaho Hoopdreams featured the San Jose Cagers U14 team and the mostly eighth-graders were a runaway 53-28 winner over the Bulldawgs Blue out of Daly City in the title game of the Packline Bracket.
Archbishop Mitty Coach Sue Phillips oversees things but the U14 team is coached by Mitty assistant coach Jeffrey Iwanaga. To get to the title game in Walnut Creek, the girls played their first game on Friday at Alhambra-Martinez and were a 49-43 winner over Trust The Process based in San Pablo. On Saturday they played at St. Ignatius where the Cagers beat Cal Stars Sacramento 8 Elite 46-29.
According to Phillips one name to look for in nthe future is 5-9 seventh-grade point guard Morgan Chelli, who is at Pinewood and plays for the middle school team.
“Morgan is a guard with a complete game,” Phillips remarked. “She led the team in scoring, assists and steals over the weekend.”
Phillips also mentioned 5-10 eighth-grade post Jamaya Perry. She attends junior high in Fremont.
“Jamaya is a force inside and can score through and with contact in paint,” Phillips said. “She can control the board and led the team in rebounds.”
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After a loss to the Northwest Stars in their Exhibition game the Cagers Blue beat Columbia Cascade, lost to eventual Chin Bracket champion Vegas Bulldogs, and then won the third-place game with a 51-40 victory against Bay City 17 Select based in San Francisco.
According to Phillips both incoming juniors Hunter Hernandez and Marley Langi had a great weekend and impressed the college coaches.
Phillips was missing incoming junior forward Olivia Williams who was in New Zealand trying out for the U17 National Team, and point guard Ashley Hiraki who had a family commitment, so all in all it was a pretty good tournament for the Cagers.
