CARUTHERS, Calif. – Two teams in the most recent Cal-Hi Sports Top 25 rankings and another team that was in the expanded top 35 graced the five-game Caruthers Showcase on Saturday held smack dab in the center of “The Valley” as the locals like to affectionately like to call the CIF Central Section, and although the hosts almost provided an upset, the higher ranked teams prevailed in the two games involving ranked teams.
San Ramon Valley-Danville 60, St. Joseph-Santa Maria 35
The Caruthers Showcase match-up between the two top teams in the Cal-Hi Sports state rankings competing in the event, No. 11 San Ramon Valley and No. 21 St. Joseph, was all San Ramon Valley.
The Wolves never trailed and there was only one tie at 2-2 before the East Bay Athletic League champions went on a 14-2 run and never looked back, leading by 29 points on two occasions before coasting home.
Senior point guard Sierra Chambers was named the Most Valuable Player after leading San Ramon Valley (25-1) with 16 points (three three-pointers), six rebounds, four steals and three assists. Seniors Avery Knapp, Amanda Kerner and Tera Chen added 13, 12 and 10 points, respectively.
UCLA-bound senior Avery Cain led St. Joseph (20-5) with 12 points.
Esperanza-Anaheim 58, Caruthers 57
The closest and most exciting game saw host Caruthers fall short at the end in a game they led 53-41 around midway through the fourth quarter before the young Blue Raiders went ice cold and allowed Cal-Hi Sports No. 30 Esperanza to steal one in the final seconds.
Leading 55-53 with just over 30 seconds remaining and with Esperanza needing to foul, Caruthers was the beneficiary of an intentional foul that came after a common foul had already been committed.
That meant Caruthers had four free-throws coming, but Gizelle Aguirre only made of the two on the technical and Kara Higuchi only made one of her two. Even so, the hosts had a 57-53 lead and looked like they were still going to pull it out, but the visiting Aztecs had other ideas.
Esperanza senior Alexa Muller hit a long three-pointer to cut it to 57-56 with 10.9 seconds left. Caruthers called a time out and all they needed to do was inbound the ball but Aztecs senior Bailey Frazier stole the inbounds and passed it to her little sister Ellie Frazier. The sophomore drove towards the key and put up a floater that touched nothing but net.
Caruthers got the ball with four seconds left but a desperation shot at the buzzer wasn’t close.
Esperanza (24-4) got a game-high 14 points from both Muller (four three-pointers) and sophomore Madilyn Lam. Lam had seven points in the fourth quarter including a consecutive three-point play and a three-pointer that cut it to 55-53 and set up the final heroics. Sophomore Charlotte Muller, the twin of Alexa, added 12 points, including back to back three-pointers after Caruthers had taken its 12-point lead in the final period.
Lam was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.
Caruthers (17-7) had three players in double-figure scoring led by 12 points (three three-pointers) from Aguirre. Sophomores Emmi Almeida (two three-pointers) and Celeste Mack added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Monache-Porterville 62, San Joaquin Memorial-Fresno 59
In what on the surface looks like an upset, was one indeed in some respects since San Joaquin Memorial is an established CIF Central Section program and Monache is more upstart, but its win on Saturday showed just why the Marauders are looking like heavy favorites in the CIFCS Division II playoffs.
San Joaquin Memorial led 17-7 after one quarter, 35-27 at the half and 48-42 after three quarters but couldn’t put Monache away.
Monache (25-2) started the fourth quarter on 7-0 run and when sophomore Milly Rojas hit a three-pointer the Marauders had their first lead in the game at 49-48, but at that point it was far from over.
Freshman Amieya Walters scored to give San Joaquin Memorial a 55-53 lead but sophomore Shelley Andrade drained a three-pointer and Monache was back if front, 56-55. Junior Sienna Evans scored to put Memorial back in front 57-56, but sophomore London Haynes answered with a three-pointer and Monache has the lead for good at 59-57.
The final points in the game came on free-throws. Sophomore Kyah Bartlett hit a pair to give Monache a 61-57 lead, Evans made two of three to cut it to 61-59, but after Haynes hit one of two from the charity stripe San Joaquin Memorial had a final shot but it fell well short.
Rojas was named the Most Valuable Player after finishing with 17 points (three three-pointers), including 12 in the second half. Bartlett added 12 points as did senior Alisha Verdejo, with each connecting on two three-pointers.
Evans led San Joaquin Memorial (15-6) with 20 points including two three-pointers. Walters added 19 points with four three-pointers.
For Evans a win would have capped off a huge week for her but the victory slipped away. Earlier in the week she had a career high 42 points on 7-of-8 shooting on three pointers in an 87-37 win at Sanger, and 26 points (two three-pointers) in a 78-24 win over Justin Garza of Fresno.
Bullard-Fresno 68, Righetti-Santa Maria 54
For most of the first half the game was back and forth, but after trailing for the last time at 21-19, Bullard went on an 18-0 run that eventually got the a 27-2 blitz that gave them a 46-23 advantage before the local girls coasted home to an easy win.
Sophomore center Sanai Herod led Bullard (19-7) with a double-double 21 points and 10 rebounds, anf for her efforts she was named the Most Valuable Player of the game. Juniors Caris Williams and Karli Grier each added 13 points.
Righetti (14-10) got a game-high 24 points from senior Martha Durazo and 13 points (three three-pointers) from senior Bree Luna.
Clovis 67, Bakersfield Christian-Bakersfield 57
Clovis won the game but in process star sophomore guard Sadie Sin went down with an ankle injury that could not have come at a worse time as they drive toward the playoffs in what has been a tough year for the Cougars.
Bakersfield Christian only trailed 26-20 at the half but a 14-4 run to open the third quarter gave Clovis control and they were pretty much in control from there.
Sophomore Yazmin Aguilera led Clovis (16-11) with 26 points (five three-pointers) and was named Most Valuable Player of the Game.
Bakersfield Christian fell to 19-7 on the season.
