Two of this week’s SoCal/NorCal honorees are Jannon Otto from Oak Hills of Hesperia and Jalen Busby from Elsie Allen of Santa Rosa. Photos: Courtesy school & YSN365.com.
To nominate a player for next week, email markjtennis@gmail.com by Monday at 12 noon and be sure to include a photo that we can use (which means it’s not from the local newspaper or from another web site). Please feel free to call at 209-463-9050 as well both for nominations or to see if your business or small company would like to become a sponsor for this weekly content.
Note: For purposes of this feature, we are considering the CIF Central Section to be in the north.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Boys Basketball Player of the Week
Stephen Thompson Jr. (Bishop Montgomery, Torrance)
It was a busy Saturday at Fairfax of Los Angeles last week with games all day and night long and one of the big performances was turned in by this Oregon State-bound standout. Thompson Jr. scored 37 points during a 94-34 win over Loyola of Los Angeles.
The night before, he scored 19 points during a 71-48 win over St. Bernard of Playa del Rey and reached the 2,000 career points mark. He is the son of former Los Angeles Crenshaw legend Stephen Thompson (led Cougars to unbeaten record in 1985) and his younger brother, Ethan, also is a key player for the Knights.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Boys Basketball Player of the Week
Jalen Busby (Elsie Allen, Santa Rosa)
First-place was on the line in the Sonoma County League when the Lobos and Busby faced Piner of Santa Rosa last Friday night and this 6-foot-4 senior captain made sure the they would be the ones in first-place when the night ended.
Busby scored 42 points and grabbed 10 rebounds during the 81-65 win. A big chunk of those 42 points came at the free throw line as he knocked down 18 of 22 from the stripe. Averaging 21.1 points per game, Busby’s previous season-best performance was 29 points all the way back in Elsie Allen’s second game of the season.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Girls Basketball Player of the Week
Jannon Otto (Oak Hills, Hesperia) Sr.
Another player who went over 2,000 career points last week is this future New Mexico Lobos player who can do more than just score.
During a 56-17 win over Sultana of Hesperia, she had 19 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists as Oak Hills remained undefeated in the Mojave River League.
During her freshman year, Otto listed hitting 2,000 career points and grabbing 1,000 career rebounds as a goal and after already grabbing her 1,000th career rebound earlier this season she hit the 2,000 points mark earlier in the week against Apple Valley.
Otto only needed one point entering that game and hit a 3-pointer on the second possession of a 72-7 home win . Otto also ended the night with 36 points, 10 rebounds and seven steals.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Girls Basketball Player of the Week
Rebecca Gallis (Kern Valley, Lake Isabella) Sr.
Despite it coming in a heartbreaking one-point loss to Rosamond, this junior captain who is no stranger to being a state stat star of the week finished with a season-high 43 points in a 61-60 loss to the Roadrunners. Averaging well over a double-double for the season, she also grabbed 12 rebounds and had seven steals.
Earlier in the week, Gallis scored 36 points and grabbed a season-high 22 rebounds during a 69-20 win by the Broncs over Frazier Mountain of Lebec. Her older brother, Dalton, just completed a standout season as Kern Valley’s quarterback in football.
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
