Two of this week’s chart-toppers include Quinton Adlesh of San Luis Obispo Mission Prep and Cydnee Kinslow of Oakley Freedom. Photos: Courtesy family & Harold Abend.
Based on this week’s hot scorers, UC Irvine has got a dandy class coming in led by Brandon Smith & Max Hazzard. For the girls, Freedom of Oakley’s Cydnee Kinslow makes the state record book for blocking 16 shots in one game.
As has been customary for many years, we collect the state stat stars in support of the Cal-Hi Sports State Record Book & Almanac. The book has been published seven times (the most recent, though, was 2009) and is as official as a state record book can be since no other exists. To report a State Stat Star of the Week of your own, please email details to markjtennis@gmail.com.
Note: All boys and girls basketball state records are in the process of being added to this web site. Some of them already have been added. They will be part of our Gold Club membership. To join our Gold Club today,please CLICK HERE.
Thanks to Paul Muyskens, Mark Tennis and CIF Central Section historian Bob Barnett for contributing items this week. This honor roll is for games played from Feb. 17 to Feb. 21 with some performances from this week also included.
BOYS BASKETBALL
Brandon Smith (Godinez, Santa Ana)
Showing why he was one of our SoCal Players of the Week earlier this season, the UC-Irvine recruit scored 45 points during a 104-87 win over University of Irvine in the opening round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1A playoffs.
Mo Abdulrasul (Fremont, Sunnyvale)
We didn’t forget to remove him from last week’s state stat stars; he just had another 40-point game for the second week in a row. The senior guard finished with 42 points during a 65-57 win over Palo Alto.
Clayton Ladine (Burton, San Francisco)
Colleague Mitch Stephens of MaxPreps and the S.F. Chronicle called twice on Thursday about Ladine, whose state-leading scoring average has now crept up to 37.8. He had 40 points last week in a 102-64 romp past Academy of Arts & Sciences. He had 56 the previous week in a 100-70 win against Stellar Prep of Hayward. Ladine’s average also is now above the San Francisco seasonal record of 36.7 set in 1996 by Winters Patterson of Balboa but is still behind the NorCal record of 38.5 set in 1975 by all-time great Bill Cartwright of Elk Grove. Patterson was reported with a scoring average of above 40 per game when he tragically died at age 19 after hitting his head in a pickup game. That total probably, however, was for league games.
David Awolowo (Gunderson, San Jose)
Another Bay Area sharpshooter who has found his way here more than once this season, Awolowo pumped in 38 points during a 83-58 win over Leigh of San Jose in BVAL Mt. Hamilton action last week.
Max Hazzard (Loyola, Los Angeles)
Named already as one of our Cal-Hi Sports Players of the Week and yet another possible sleeper for UC-Irvine, Hazzard scored 37 points during a 82-55 win over Burbank in the CIFSS Division IA playoffs.
Tyler Dorsey (Maranatha, Pasadena)
The All-American candidate scored 36 points during a 71-50 win over Riverside Prep of Oro Grande in the CIFSS Division 4A playoffs. Earlier last week, he had 30 points during a 80-33 win over Milken of Los Angeles and already this week he scored 40 points and grabbed 13 rebounds during a 80-59 win over St. Genevieve of Panorama City.
Jalonni McCorvey has had a standout season for Sunnyside of Fresno. Photo: Twitter.com.
According to CIF Central Section historian Bob Barnett, McCorey’s 707 points this season is a new school record. He had reached that total after scoring 35 points last week in a 79-64 win over Reedley.
Lonzo Ball (Chino Hills)
It would hard to argue his performance wasn’t one of the top performances of last week anywhere when he scored 35 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and had six assists and did it during a huge 78-54 win over Long Beach Poly in the CIFSS Open Division playoffs.
Brandon Waltrip (Caruthers)
He scored 33 points in a 79-43 win over Parlier to push his career total near 1,300 points.
Ben Rico (Sonora, La Habra)
Facing off against state stat star regular Jake Linsky and Northwood of Irvine, Rico scored 26 of his 32 points in the first half and also had nine rebounds and six steals during a 85-57 CIFSS playoff win.
Bryson Williams (Roosevelt, Fresno)
A 6-foot-6 junior center, Williams scored a season-high of 31 points and had 27 rebounds and four blocks to lead Roosevelt over Fresno High 72-69 in overtime that enabled the Roughriders to share the North Yosemite League title with the Warriors. Teammate Brian King added 28 points.
Legend Demps (El Modena, Orange)
It will not be a legendary run to a section championship for the Vanguards as their run in the CIFSS Division 2A playoffs ended with an 82-73 loss to Savanna of Anaheim despite his 31 points.
Anthony Townes (Modesto Christian, Modesto)
Another of our players of the week, he is a big reason why the Crusaders moved into the Top 20 of our state rankings as he matched his season-high with 30 points while grabbing 11 rebounds during a 82-54 win over Johansen of Modesto.
Quinton Adlesh (Mission Prep, San Luis Obispo)
Scoring a game-high 30 points, the Royals advanced to the next round of the CIFSS Division IA playoffs with a 90-67 win over Lompoc. Adlesh also already has a 44-point game this week in a playoff win over Harvard-Westlake. He can’t be player of the week next week, however, because he’s already been chosen.
Alex Copeland (Harvard-Westlake, Studio City)
In last week’s games, Copeland helped keep the coaching career of retiring head coach Greg Hilliard still going with 30 points in a 75-58 triumph against Rancho Mirage. Hillard’s career, however, ended earlier this week in a loss to Mission Prep with Copeland getting 26 points. Hilliard was reported with 617 wins after that last game since he arrived at Harvard-Westlake 30 years ago.
Michael Oguine (Chaminade)
It was another double-double performance for this standout when he scored 29 points and grabbed 14 rebounds during a 89-57 win over Centennial of Compton in the CIFSS Division III playoffs.
M.J. Cage (Mater Dei, Santa Ana)
Coming up two blocks shy of a triple-double, the 6-foot-10 junior center scored 22 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to go with his eight blocks during a 65-56 win over Price of Los Angeles in the CIFSS Open Division playoffs.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Cydnee Kinslow (Freedom, Oakley)
All season long, this junior has been one of the top shot blockers not just in the state but in the nation and she ended her season with a big time block party that will get her name listed in the state record book. Kinslow blocked five shots in first two minutes of a game against Antioch and finished with 16 blocked shots during a 68-18 win over the Panthers. She also scored 12 points and had 18 rebounds to finish with a triple-double. In our last printed edition of the state record book, the record for most blocks in a game is 23 set by Myiesha Jones back in 1997 at Castlemont of Oakland.
Precious Nwaba (University, Los Angeles)
She did all she could against No. 16 in the state Narbonne of Harbor City but her 36 points wasn’t enough to prevent a 60-52 loss to the Gauchos in the CIF L.A. City Section Open Division playoffs.
Michele Brown (Hoover, Fresno)
The senior standout scored 32 points in a 58-35 win over McLane of Fresno to close the regular season. Michele has now scored 1,560 career points, the 3rd most in school history.
Amber Melgoza (Santa Barbara)
Outscoring San Gabriel on her own, the high-scoring junior finished with 29 points and 12 rebounds during a 65-27 win during CIF-SS Division 2AA playoff action. She is still averaging 33.7 points per game, which is behind only Destiny Littleton of La Jolla Bishop’s for the reported state lead.
Lillian Olson (Sacramento Waldorf, Fair Oaks)
Making sure the Waves wouldn’t lose for the second night in a row, she scored 28 points, grabbed 22 rebounds and blocked six shots during a 48-36 victory over Victory Christian of Carmichael.
Katie Lou Samuelson (Mater Dei, Santa Ana)
Just another quiet night at the office for this UConn-bound sensation as she scored 28 points during the first half before taking a seat for the remainder of the night during a 77-42 win over J.W. North of Riverside in the opening round of the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs.
Margurite Effa (Fairfax, Los Angeles)
USC-bound center has had opponents muttering under their breath all season long trying to stop her. Already named as our SoCal Player of the Week, Effa scored 27 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and had seven assists during a 83-68 win over Carson.
Dijonai Carrington (Horizon Christian, San Diego)
While her scoring was down from her average of 26.7 points per game, she did finish with 23 points and grabbed 23 rebounds during a 45-39 win for the Panthers over Santa Fe Christian of Solana Beach.
Kayla Overbeck (Newbury Park)
Just a junior, she nonetheless will go into the program’s record books since she has broken the single-season record for points. Overbeck scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds during a win over Godinez in the first round of the CIFSS Division 1A playoffs. It improved her season total to 547 points and broke the previous school record of 527 points scored by Kavita Gross during the 2005-06 season.
Paul Muyskens is the Stockton office assistant editor for CalHiSports.com. Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
