State Basketball Players of the Week

Two of our honorees for this week are Cody Shen from Torrey Pines of San Diego (left) & Laila Florivus from St. Bernard’s of Eureka. Photos: @TPHS_Basketball / X.com & Willie Eashman.


We have four very deserving honorees this week that are not the big stars that take up a lot of the limelight, but those that usually might only get local accolades. We don’t have any entries for the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book, which is one of the goals of this feature, but one of our honored players has gone up twice against a player now in the record book and has shined twice. This week, we visit Fairfield and Eureka in Northern California and in Southern California the stops are in San Diego and Riverside.

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Notes: For these honors, we also consider CIF Central Section players for Northern California. To nominate anyone, email markjtennis@gmail.com.

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

Laila Florvilus (St. Bernard’s, Eureka) Sr.

To find the Northern California Girls Basketball State Player of the Week, we venture “Behind the Redwood Curtain” around 270 miles north of San Francisco to the Redwood Empire portion of the CIF North Coast Section where we pass the forests of giant Redwood trees until we get to Eureka where we find this week’s honoree at St. Bernard’s.

No one promotes his student-athletes more than Crusaders’ head coach Matt Tomlin, and he has had a few to promote since not only is he the St. Bernard’s girls basketball head coach, but he also coaches the baseball and football teams as well.

Not a game goes by without Tomlin sharing the achievements of Florvilus on social media.

The 5-foot-9 senior was the Division IV State Player of the Year last season for the CIF Division IV state champion Crusaders, but that does not preclude her from other statewide honors, and this is the week we honor her to go with tons of local recognition she gets from the local media.

Last week it was like two more days at the office for Florvilus after she went for 26 points, nine rebounds and six steals in 65-43 win over neighboring Ferndale, and a double-double 22 points and 14 rebounds with six steals and four assists in a 57-47 win versus Trinity of Weaverville.

So far this season for the 23-1 Crusaders, Laila has lit it up for nine double-doubles and two triple-doubles and is averaging 19.7 points, 8.4 rebounds and 5.1 steals per game. Her two triple-doubles came in wins over Red Bluff and in the first meeting with Ferndale when Florvilus had 27 points, 12 rebounds and 11 steals, and 29 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, respectively.

Of note is Florvilus has an outside chance of hitting the 2,000-point scoring plateau for her career if St. Bernard’s makes another deep playoff run as she currently sits at 1,747 career points.

Johnnie Jones of Fairfield is about to take off for a slam during game vs Wood of Vacaville. Photo: Video screenshot / Instagram.com.


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

Johnnie Jones (Fairfield) Sr.

The search for the Northen California Boys State Basketball Player of the Week takes us just east of the Bay Area to the eastern edge of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section and a couple miles west of Travis Air Force Base, and it’s in Fairfield that we land and find this week’s winner at Fairfield High.

Jones has been lighting it up for the Falcons all season and is the team’s top scorer by almost 10 points per game, but it’s his most recent performances that earn him a statewide honor to go with local recognition.

Last week, in a 61-43 win over crosstown arch rival Armijo, the 6-foot-3 senior forward just missed a double-double after going for a season-high 32 points, on a blistering 14-of-18 overall shooting from the field and 2-for-3 on three-pointers.

In his prior game, a 63-54 loss to Sacramento Foothill, Jones had a double-double 27 points and 12 rebounds. In his most recent game, which was played on Monday night of this week, in a 57-45 win versus Sacramento Valley, he had 16 points and six rebounds.

So far this season for the 18-6 Falcons, Jones is averaging 21.0 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. Postseason honors for him should be aplenty.

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

Cody Shen (Torrey Pines, San Diego) Sr.

The CIF San Diego Section is our destination in the quest to find the Southern California player of the week and it’s in the North County area in San Diego proper at Torrey Pines High where we find this week’s award winner.

Previous Cal-Hi Sports No. 27 Carlsbad seems to have problems when Shen takes the court against them.

Last week, in a 69-68 overtime upset home win over Carlsbad that knocked the Lancers of that No. 27 spot (plus the No. 2 ranking in San Diego), Shen went for 36 points (four three-pointers) with three each of rebounds, assists and steals. On January 15, and on the road at Carlsbad, Shen did the Lancers in for the first time this season when the 6-foot-3 senior combo guard registered 35 points with six rebounds, three assists and three steals in a victory.

So far this season for the 19-5 Falcons, who moved on to the bubble of this week’s state rankings, Cody is averaging 18.9 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game.

It might interest some to know that in both games against Carlsbad and matched up against Lancers’ star Jake Hall, the Cal Lutheran-committed Shen outscored Hall, who at 2,792 points is the third-leading all-time scoring leader in the San Diego Section according to the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book. When the state record list was updated last weekend when the top spot switched hands, Hall’s career total also was added.

Kayla Gonzalez of this year’s Patriot High girls basketball team is listed as No. 5 on team’s posted roster. Photo: Patriot HS / Instagram.com.

Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Girls State Basketball Player of the Week

Kayla Gonzalez (Patriot, Jurupa Valley) Jr.

The Inland Empire is our destination in the search for the Southern California Girls State Basketball Player of the Week and we find her in Jurupa Valley at Patriot High.

Last week, in a 56-point win over crosstown Rubidoux, the junior guard more than tripled the entire output of Rubidoux and just missed a quadruple-double after she went for 32 points, nine rebounds, 10 assists and eight steals. Two days later, and in a heartbreaking 46-45 loss to Riverside La Sierra, Gonzalez had 25 points (three three-pointers), five rebounds and five steals.

Although it didn’t really count towards the honor since it was for last week’s performances, Kayla went for a double-double with 35 points plus 10 steals and six assists in a rout of crosstown Jurupa Valley of Fontana. We have to admit that we assumed the Warriors were going to win that game and thus we wouldn’t have to do a last-second switch, but it turned out to only make her selection even better.

So far this season for the 15-12 squad, Gonzalez is averaging 21.1 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 5.1 steals per game.

Harold Abend is the associate editor of CalHiSports.com and the vice president of the California Prep Sportswriters Association. He can be reached at marketingharoldabend@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @HaroldAbend


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