SAN DIEGO, CA – The 3A Division of the 33rd Annual San Diego Classic at Alliant University moves into the second phase of its Pool Play format with almost no surprises after the winners and runners up from the A, B, C and D Pools that concluded on Friday, now move into Pool 1 to compete for the championship of the tournament’s top division.
Two teams from Northern California and two teams from Southern California won the four Pools in the 3A Division and the other four teams that make up Pool 1 include two teams from the CIF Southern Section, one from the CIF Central Section and a team from New Mexico.
Pool A was won by perennial Southern California power Long Beach Poly after a 38-25 win on Thursday over Woodcreek-Roseville and a 36-33 win over Clovis and a 29-15 victory over Mayfield-Las Cruces, New Mexico on Friday to advance to an 11:00 a.m. quarterfinal match-up on Saturday with Las Cruces, New Mexico, the Pool D second place finisher.
There will be a few players for just about every team other than those in this feature that will make the overall list of ranked players of the Girls of Summer Caravan, but the top two Jackrabbits players, and the ones that led Poly in going 3-0 in Pool play were incoming junior guard Kalaya Buggs, the daughter of multiple CIF state championship winning Coach Carl Buggs, and incoming 6-2 senior post Ashlee Lewis. In the two games observed in Pool A play both Poly players shined.
In a 38-24 win over Woodcreek-Roseville, Buggs had 11 points, eight rebounds and three steals, and Lewis finished with 12 points and nine rebounds. Then, in a typical summer game in which the Jackrabbits beat Mayfield of Las Cruces, New Mexico, Buggs had eight points, five assists and four steals, and Lewis added seven points, 11 rebounds, and three blocks.
Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa ran roughshod in going 3-0 in Pool B.
Incoming Cardinals senior guard shot the lights out with 6-of-9 shooting on three-pointers and 27 points in a 57-25 victory over Crean Lutheran-Irvine on Thursday.
In a 45-22 victory over Saugus on Friday, Bacci connected on three three-pointers and led the way again with 12 points. An improving incoming sophomore guard Reese Searcy also nailed three treys and added 11 points, and incoming junior guard Mariah Harris, who just moved back to Santa Rosa after missing her sophomore season after her family had to relocate after losing their home in the fires two years ago, finished with 10 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
The Cardinals came back in their seconds game on Friday with a 49-20 blowout of Culver City behind 18 points (three three-pointers) from Bacci, nine points from Searcy, Harris added 10 points and seven rebounds, and although she didn’t score a lot as she doesn’t always look to score, incoming junior guard Aysia Dural filled the state sheet in other ways like she usually does, and finished with four points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals.
Newman is in action on Saturday at noon against Pool C second place finisher Bonita Vista-Chula Vista.
Pool C may have been the most competitive of the four pools and was won by Centennial Corona.
The Huskies opened with a 53-42 victory over Washington Arlington, beat local favorite Bonita Vista, 44-43 on a buzzer beater by incoming junior Jayda Curry, and in the one game observed they were a convincing 56-41 winner over Oak Ridge-El Dorado Hills.
In the Oak Ridge win, Curry led the way with 17 points (three three-pointers), six assists, six rebounds and three steals, but in the victory a new fresh face that we should be hearing about a lot over the next four years made her mark, and that’s Sydney Summers. The flashy income g freshman guard finished with 13 points with three three-pointers, including one from NBA range, and four assists.
Centennial is in action on Saturday in the quarterfinals at 11:00 a.m. against Pool B second-place finisher Saugus.
Pool D was won by two-time San Diego Classic Pinewood-Los Altos Hills but it didn’t come without a scare.
After beating Valley View-Moreno Valley 46-35 in its first game on Thursday, the Panthers needed overtime before pulling out a 46-44 victory over the local girls from Mission Hills-San Marcos in their first game on Friday. In the Friday night cap Pinewood was a 50-32 winner over New Mexico Las Cruces.
In the lone Pinewood game observed, the win over Vallery View, the incoming junior duo of guards Courtney Thompson and Annika Decker each nailed two three-pointers and finished with eight points.
Valley View has an incoming freshman that should be turning some heads, and caught the attention of Pinewood head coach and shooting guru Doc Scheppler, and that’s guard Ari Long. She had 23 of the 35 Valley View points and nailed five three-pointers, plus she snagged seven rebounds.
Pinewood will be in action in its quarterfinal match-up at noon on Saturday with Pool A runner-up Clovis.
Pool 1 quarterfinals will be followed by the semifinals at 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. with the winners of those two games advancing to the championship game at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday.
