In past years a decision on the top girls basketball player in the North Coast Section has been a difficult task.

This season Sabrina Ionescu of Miramonte was a slam dunk winner and is the Prep2Prep NCS Player of the Year.

Last year’s winner and current Louisville freshman All-American Mariya Moore of Salesian had some competition from the current Cal freshmen duo of Mikayla Cowling and Gabby Green of St. Mary’s-Berkeley, as well as Nebraska freshman Natalie Romeo of Carondelet.

This year the only other major Division I signees amongst the individual class winners and first-team honorees were Prep2Prep NCS Senior of the Year Ma’Ane Mosley of St. Mary’s and Bishop O'Dowd guard Aisia Robertson, a Prep2Prep first-team all-NCS selection and Kansas commit.

While both Mosley and Robertson were solid impact players, neither could really challenge Ionescu for top honors.

Not only is the 6-foot junior the Prep2Prep NCS Player of the Year, but Ionescu was the only girl from the NCS and one of only two girls from Northern California - along with Mi’Cole Cayton of St. Mary’s-Stockton - to be named among the six finalists for the Cal-Hi Sports Ms. Basketball State Player of the Year award.

In fact, Ionescu was also the top junior of three finalists from the class of 2016 for the state’s top girls basketball individual honor, and will come into next season as the prohibitive favorite for the Ms. Basketball title.

Although she didn’t get the Ms. Basketball award this season, Ionescu was named the State Junior and Division III Player of the Year after being named State Sophomore of the Year and the Division III winner last year.

“It’s a great feeling to win the Prep2Prep honor to go with my other awards, but I couldn’t have done it without the best coach and the best teammates,” Ionescu said.

With a D3 designation from the NCS, Miramonte - led by coach Kelly Sopak - and Ionescu once again were moved up to the Northern Regional Open Division, and for the second straight year she led the Mats to the NorCal Open Division title game, this time falling to eventual state champions St. Mary’s-Stockton.

With Ionescu leading the way, Miramonte finished 30-5 and was No. 2 in the final Prep2Prep Northern California rankings and No. 5 in the Cal-Hi Sports final overall state rankings.

Ionescu improved her numbers in all categories compared to her sophomore season and showed why 22 major colleges have offered her a scholarship, including Connecticut, Duke, Notre Dame, Stanford and every other major college power, plus just about every Pac-12 school.

Despite being pulled early in many games in which the Mats were comfortably ahead, this past season she averaged 23 points, 8.9 rebounds, 7.3 assists and 5 steals per game. Ionescu also shot 39 percent on 3-pointers and 84.7 percent from the free-throw line.

Although she can score at will against most high school opponents, Ionescu is known more for her defense and ability to deliver the ball to teammates on offense. Not only does she like distributing the ball more than scoring, interested colleges are looking to her to assume that role at the next level.

“I really love getting my teammates involved,” said Ionescu, after putting on an outstanding display of all her coveted skills at the Cal Stars Battle of the Bay event on April 18 at Jam Town in Oakland.

Last summer in international competition, Ionescu led the USA U17 Gold Medal winning national team in steals and was second in assists. In 2013, as a sophomore, she was also on the USA U16 Gold Medal winning national team.

“What makes Sabrina so exceptional is not just the fact she has tremendous basketball talent, but she has a relentless work ethic,” Sopak said. “It’s simple as it sounds and it is simple, but a lot of kids want to play and be good, and have the accolades that come with success, but 99 percent of the kids don’t put in the effort she does.”

Added Sopak: “Another thing that makes Sabrina special is she cares more about the scoreboard than any individual stats. It means a lot to me when it’s more important to her than anything else that the team wins.”

According to Mitty coach and USA National Team coach Sue Phillips, who coached Ionescu in both appearances in international competition the past two summers: “Sabrina is instant offense, either as a playmaker or big shot taker and maker. She can defend multiple positions with her length and quickness and her basketball IQ is very high and allows her to play multiple styles of offense and defense.”

The good news for Miramonte fans is Ionescu is back next season and if she continues to improve as she has the past two seasons, the Mats are going to be a formidable force once again in California girls basketball.

While his big-time star Sabrina Ionescu gets almost all the ink, the job Miramonte coach Kelly Sopak did this past season and what he’s done in particular the past four years at the helm of the Matadors has been exemplary.

Now, after leading the Mats to a 30-3 record this past season, a second straight Northern Regional Open Division runner-up finish, and a second consecutive CIF North Coast Section Division III title, Sopak has been named the Prep2Prep NCS Girls Coach of the Year.

This year Miramonte also won its fourth straight Diablo Foothill League title and has gone 118-10 in that four-year span. All 10 of the losses the Mats have had during that stretch under Sopak have come against nationally-ranked teams.

Sopak’s teams have also won 50 straight in DFAL play and own a 67-game home winning streak.

Two years ago, when his team went 27-3 before losing by a point to St. Mary’s-Stockton in the NorCal Open Division quarterfinals, Sopak was named the Contra Costa Times Girls Coach of the Year, but despite a stellar 10-year career as a coach, the Prep2Prep award this year is the only other recognition he’s received.

“It feels good to be acknowledged for doing what you love, but for me personal recognition is the same as when a player on the team gets recognized,” Sopak said. “It’s a collective effort. It means I’ve had some pretty good players and some great assistants.”

Sopak began his career as an assistant at Northgate in 2004 before taking the helm the following season. His first team in 2005-2006 went 22-6 and tied for first place in the Diablo Foothill League. In four years at Northgate, Sopak compiled a 94-20 record, won two DFAL titles and finished second and third in league the other two seasons.

Besides the four DFAL titles since coming to Miramonte six years ago, his other two teams in 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 finished second and third in league, respectively.

In 10 years combined between Northgate and Miramonte, Sopak has a 257-45 record overall. That translates into an 85.1 winning percentage, a percentage that puts him in the top 15 all-time for California girls basketball coaches and earns him a spot in the Cal-Hi Sports State Record Book on the list of best all-time winning percentages for girls coaches.

His teams have all won at least 22 games and three times they have reached the 30-win plateau, including the last two seasons.

“Obviously he has Sabrina (Ionescu), and no offense to his other players, but Kelly has done an amazing job for what he has at a small-town school,” said Bentley girls coach and assistant athletic director Clay Kallam.

“What he does really well is he holds kids accountable for their play,” continued Kallam, who holds the only vote in Northern California on the McDonald’s All-American selection committee for girls. “He has a real grasp of what each player can or can’t do, and he’ll change the lineup each game if someone doesn’t play well. He does have a system he runs but he’s not locked into things. Another one of Kelly’s real assets with kids is he has an ability to teach them to do a lot of things well.”

Sopak doesn’t teach at Miramonte but he’s an extremely busy man. Besides coaching high school he’s had a State Farm insurance agency in Albany for over 20 years and is also the coach of the Gold Team of the Cal Stars club program he founded in 2006.

His Cal Stars Gold team, which features Ionescu, Prep2Prep NCS Junior of the Year Minyon Moore of Salesian, Cal-Hi Sports State Freshman of the Year Aquira DeCosta of St. Mary’s-Stockton, and 3-point record breaker Kat Tudor of St. Mary’s-Stockton, will be travelling to Virginia this weekend for the Nike EYBL (Elite Youth Basketball League) Boo Williams event, where the team is projected to do very well.

Ma'Ane Mosley

Minyon Moore

Sabrina Ionescu

Minyon Moore

Ma'Ane Mosley

Hailey Pascoe

Aisia Robertson

Nina Bessolo

Marcella Hughes

Ameela Li

Jaiamoni Welch-Coleman

Kylie Kiech

Katie Rathbun

Keanna Delos Santos