Two of this week’s SoCal/NorCal Players of the Week are Isaiah Mobley of Rancho Christian and Janae Fairbrook of Sacramento St. Francis. Photos: fullcourtpress & Steven Shaff.
One of this week’s honorees actually connected on 10 straight 3-pointers in one game, a feat that even the most accurate long range bombers in the NBA would love to claim. Joining Sacramento St. Francis standout Janae Fairbrook this week is a boys player from Sacramento and players from Temecula and Pacific Palisades.
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Note: For these honors, we consider CIF Central Section players for Northern California. To find out how your business could benefit by sponsoring these honors each week or to nominate someone by 12 noon on most Mondays, email markjtennis@gmail.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Boys Basketball Player of the Week
Isaiah Mobley (Rancho Christian, Temecula) Soph.
This 6-foot-8 power forward and a member of last year’s all-state freshman team is continuing to develop all facets of his game.
In a 90-21 romp last week against calvary Murrieta of Murrieta, Mobley poured in 41 points and hauled in 20 rebounds. It’s the first 40/20 game in Rancho Christian’s young history and broke the school record of 34 set earlier this season when Solomon Davis, another sophomore, had 34 points in the same game in which Chino Hills’ LiAngelo Ball went nuts for 72.
For the season, Mobley is averaging 18.9 points and 14.1 rebounds per game. He already has numerous D1 college offers and is generally considered one of the state’s top 10 college prospects for the Class of 2019.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Girls Basketball Player of the Week
Chelsey Gipson (Palisades, Pacific Palisades) Sr.
Last season’s L.A. City Section Player of the Year is having an even bigger senior season as she is averaging a career-best 24.2 points per game after averaging 17.6 points per game last season.
Already with five games this season of at least 30 points, Gipson had her first game in the 40s last week when she exploded for a season-high 45 points along with seven rebounds and five steals in a 97-54 win over Westchester of Los Angeles.
Gipson also didn’t wait long for another 40-point point night since earlier this week she scored 41 points during their 87-47 win on Monday against Venice. Back in November, she signed to play in college at LMU. She hopes to make it four CIF section titles in four years as well in March with three at Pali and one as a freshman at Windward of Los Angeles.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Boys Basketball Player of the Week
Keshawn Bruner (Burbank, Sacramento) Sr.
Last week against Sacramento High, Bruner he matched his season-high with 36 points to go along with eight rebounds and four assists in the 89-67 win for the Titans. But that was just his first game of the week. Bruner later hit for 33 points and had nine rebounds in a 77-62 win against Kennedy of Sacramento and then closed the week with 25 points, seven rebounds and five assists when the Titans beat Johnson 81-54.
For the season, Bruner has nearly increased his scoring average by 10 points per game since last year. He is averaging a team-best 24.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.
Back in November, the 6-foot-3 guard signed to play in college at Cal State East Bay.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Girls Basketball Player of the Week
Janae Fairbrook (St. Francis, Sacramento) Sr.
We’ve heard of some great 3-point shooting, but what Fairbrook did for the Troubadours in their 87-34 victory vs. Grant of Sacramento would make even Steph Curry notice.
It wasn’t that Fairbrook scored a career-high 41 points and made a St. Francis school record 11 three-pointers. It was that she did make 10 straight three-pointers in the first half.
Fairbrook, who set the school’s single season record last year, finished with her best game beyond the arc.
“I have never seen anyone so hot to make 10 threes in a row to start the game,” said head coach Vic Pitton in a school press release. “I normally would sub but I was not going to pull her out until she missed.”
The 41 points also are a record under Pitton during his 15 years as head coach and is the best individual performance by a St. Francis player since Sarah Bey in the early 1990s.
For most three-pointers in a game, the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section and previous state record of 14 was set by Fair Oaks Del Campo’s Danielle Viglione in 1992. Viglione’s state record was broken in 2014 by Kelli Kamida from Mark Keppel of Alhambra. Fairbrook’s total of 11 will be listed in the state record book in a tie with several others. It takes 10 to actually make it into the book.
Paul Muyskens is the assistant editor at the Stockton office of Cal-Hi Sports. 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
