Two of this week’s honorees are Dylan McCord of unbeaten Thousand Oaks and Lulu Giometti from St. Ignatius of San Francisco (shown shooting a three last season at Chase Center). Photos: thehoopadmin / Instagram.com & Bay Area Preps Insider.
This is another week in which we don’t have any entries to track for the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book. That is one of the goals of this feature, but there is no shortage of hidden talent to earn a statewide award to go with local recognition, and that’s our other goal. This week our stops are in Thousand Oaks and Canyon Country in Southern California, while in Northern California we visit San Francisco and Antelope.
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Notes: For these honors, we consider CIF Central Section players for Northern California. To nominate anyone, email markjtennis@gmail.com. There also will be a one-week break from this feature due to the holidays. The next players of the week will be released on Tuesday, Jan. 6.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Boys Player of the Week
Dylan McCord (Thousand Oaks) Sr.
The search for the Southern California Boys Player of the Week takes us to the far western area of Ventura County and we find this week’s award winner at Thousand Oaks High.
To say Dylan has been getting busy recently might be a bit of an understatement. Even through Thousand Oaks was 5-0 when the last Cal-Hi Sports state rankings come out two weeks ago, the Lancers did not get any kind of a call. Now, they’ve improved to 11-0 and it’s McCord who has been dropping his calling card.
On Monday of this week, McCord helped Thousand Oaks get to 11-0 when he dropped in 27 points (six three-pointers) in a 59-54 tournament win over a Bishop Alemany of Mission Hills squad that came into the game sporting a 10-1 record. Prior to that, on a Saturday tourney opener, the 6-foot-1 senior guard had his first 27-point effort as the Lancers took down a previous Cal-Hi Sports No. 30 Chaminade of West Hills that was 12-0 coming into that game in a 67-56 victory.
Two weeks ago, Thousand Oaks won the big school championship game at the Nordhoff tourney and McCord was the Most Valuable Player. He had 17 points, five rebounds and three assists. He had 29 points the night before in a win vs Camarillo and in a separate game before that event got started he had 36 points in a win vs Milken of Los Angeles.
It’s not likely the Lancers will crack the upper echelons of the next rankings but if the team and McCord keeps on winning, there is a good chance the Lancers can break through.
Sophomore Darby Dunn from Canyon of Canyon Country has pushed her season scoring average above the 25 ppg mark. Photo: @StathamAcademy / X.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Girls Player of the Week
Darby Dunn
(Canyon, Canyon Country) 5-8 Soph.
To find the Southern California Girls Player of the Week we head to the Santa Clarita Valley and land just northwest of Highway 14 in Canyon Country where we find this week’s award winner at Canyon High, who now snags a statewide honor to go with local recognition.
The Cowboys girls went 1-1 to start their bracket at the Nike TOC in Arizona, but it was in the final two games, both victories, that Darby was certainly a dandy.
In a 67-32 victory over Huntington Beach, the 5-foot-6 sophomore guard went for 31 points (two three-pointers), seven rebounds, six assists and three steals. Dunn wasn’t done. The next night in a 60-58 win against Arizona Dobson of Mesa, Darby upped the ante after going for a huge double-double 32 points and 14 rebounds with six assists and two steals, and obviously the Cowboys girls needed all of her efforts.
So far this season for 8-8 Canyon and heading into a tournament game on January 2 with La Salle of Pasadena, Dunn is averaging 25.4 points, 7.3 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Girls Player of the Week
Lulu Giometti (St. Ignatius, San Francisco) Soph.
San Francisco is our destination in the search for the Northern California Player of the Week, and we find ourselves in the Sunset District of the City just off Sunset Boulevard where we find our award winner at St. Ignatius, who now garners a statewide honor to go with local recognition.
We had heard about Giometti during her freshman season at St. Ignatius when she drained six three-pointers in a 58-48 victory over West Catholic Athletic League cross-town arch rival Sacred Heart Cathedral in front of 8,000 fans the Chase Center in the annual Bruce-Mahoney rivalry game.
However, when we first saw Lulu it was last summer and she impressed us enough to garner a pretty decent ranking in the 2025 Girls of Summer Player Rankings, and it appears the Wildcats’ sophomore guard has continued her stellar play.
Last week, in a 55-46 victory over Salesian of Richmond that got St. Ignatius to 6-1 on the season, Giometti didn’t quite match her Chase Center performance but she poured in 27 points with five three-pointers in the win against one of the traditionally top teams in the Bay Area.
St. Ignatius has an upcoming game in early January against Cal-Hi Sports No. 6 St. Mary’s of Stockton and then on January 14 against No. 2 ranked and WCAL rival Archbishop Mitty of San Jose, and if the Wildcats are going to have any kind of a chance in the two match-ups, it is likely Giometti will need to connect from outside the arch.
Malichai Brown of Antelope set a school single game scoring record in team’s semifinal game at last week’s Carmel Invitational. Photo: Antelope HS Athletics / MaxPreps.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Boys Player of the Week
Malichai Brown (Antelope) Sr.
For our final stop this week, we head northeast of Sacramento up 1-80, but before reaching Roseville, we then turn left off the Antelope Road exit and head over to Antelope High. The basketball team this season is off to a great start and with Brown having some big outings improved to 12-2 last weekend with a romp through the field at the Carmel Invitational.
Brown, a 6-foot senior guard, had his average game of 19 points and five assists in the tourney opener, which was a 79-31 victory vs San Lorenzo Valley of Felton. In the semifinals, he and the Titans beat San Luis Obispo, 82-63, and in that game Brown hit from downtown early and continued to stay hot with a career high 36 points. That also is a new school record. He also had six assists and four steals. The tourney final was a 72-43 win vs Salinas. Brown had 20 points and three assists and was named tourney MVP.
With a double-double on his log of 27 points and 10 rebounds in a win vs Christian Brothers of Sacramento, Malichai is averaging 19.1 points with 2.1 assists and 3.1 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
