SoCal/NorCal Players of the Week

Two of this week's SoCal/NorCal players of the week for playoff scoring are sophomore Adrease Jackson (left) from Tesoro of Las Flores and senior Natalie Diaz of Soquel. Photos: Mark Bausman/OCSidelines.com & Eric Fingal/MBayPreps.com.

Two of this week’s SoCal/NorCal players of the week for playoff scoring are sophomore Adrease Jackson (left) from Tesoro of Las Flores and senior Natalie Diaz of Soquel. Photos: Mark Bausman/OCSidelines.com & Eric Fingal/MBayPreps.com.


Just like we did during the football season, we are going to do our best to spread around these honors as much as possible with one boy and one girl chosen from each region. This week’s best are from Las Flores, Porterville, Pacific Palisades and Soquel.

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.

Player of the Week 120
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Boys Basketball Player of the Week

Adrease Jackson (Tesoro, Las Flores) Soph.

This sophomore forward lifted the Titans to a 67-62 win over top-seeded Thousand Oaks in the CIF Southern Section Division 2AA playoffs.

The Lancers entered the contest at 27-3 and looked like a team that could do well in the CIF D2 SoCal playoffs. Instead, Jackson helped end their season. He had 29 points, nine rebounds and made 9-of-9 free throws.

Earlier last week, Jackson had 32 points during an 87-74 victory against West Ranch of Valencia.

Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Boys Basketball Player of the Week

Kilon Bradford (Granite Hills, Porterville) Sr.

After averaging 16.6 points per game last season as a junior, Bradford has done quite a bit better in his final high school season.

After another big outing from last week, he is now averaging 28 points per game. He pumped in 37 points during a 76-57 home win over Corcoran in the CIF Central Section Division IV playoffs.

In the next game, despite the Grizzlies trailing 32-14 at halftime against No. 2 seed Kennedy of Delano, they will still be playing this week due to a 51-49 win over the Thunderbirds. Bradford and teammates outscored Kennedy 37-17 in the second half.
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Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Girls Basketball Player of the Week

Chelsey Gipson (Palisades, Pacific Palisades) Soph.

She may be just a sophomore, but with her team trailing by 16 points entering the fourth quarter the point guard came up big over the final eight minutes in a 66-59 win over Fairfax of Los Angeles in the CIF L.A. City Section Open Division semifinals.

Gipson scored 11 of her 30 points in the final quarter during a huge fourth quarter comeback that advances her team into this weekend’s final opposite Narbonne of Harbor City. That is the team that was reinstated on Tuesday after being disqualified on Monday due to a uniform violation.

Fairfax was last year’s champion and has been led all season by USC-bound center Marguerite Effa, who coincidentally was last week’s SoCal girls honoree.

Gipson played key minutes last season for CIF Southern Section Open Division champion Windward of Los Angeles and didn’t get eligible at Palisades until January of this season.

Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Girls Basketball Player of the Week

Natalie Diaz (Soquel) Sr.

Leading the Knights’ attack, Natalie scored a game-high 31 points and grabbed five rebounds during a 62-40 win over Sacred Heart Prep of Atherton in the CIF Central Coast Section Division IV quarterfinals.

After the game, she told Prep2Prep.com: “I rocketed a couple off the backboard early but once I decided to be aggressive I was compelled to keep rebounding and pushing harder.”

That pushing harder has the Knights playing in the section semifinals against Menlo of Atherton on Tuesday night. Diaz, a senior who will attend Dominican College, is averaging more than 18 ppg.

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


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