Two of this week’s four honorees are Von Bibioff of Kerman (left) and Jackie Polk of Rialto. Photos: 661 Hoops / Central Cali Prospects X.com & Rialto HS / MaxPreps.com.
After a one-week break with the craziness of the holiday tournament schedules, we’re back to the Tuesday announcements of our boys/girls state basketball players of the week. We begin with the NorCal boys where we honor a senior from a small town in the valley who has stepped up his scoring in a major way after his older brother graduated. We also have stops this week in Los Altos Hills for Northern California plus La Canada and Rialto for Southern California.
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Notes: For these honors, we consider CIF Central Section players for Northern California. To nominate anyone, email markjtennis@gmail.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Boys Player of the Week
Von Bibioff (Kerman) Jr.
If one was looking for a high scoring boys basketball player one year ago, heading 15 miles west of Fresno to Kerman, a town of just around 15,000 people, would have been a frequent stop. The Lions boasted of having senior Daniel Bibioff, who ranked among the leaders not just in the state but for the nation with an average of 36.3 ppg.
Daniel has graduated, but Kerman still has one of the state’s leading scorers and it’s Von, who is two years behind his brother. While Von is not yet up to 36.3 ppg, he has jumped up his own scoring average this season to more than 25 ppg.
Von went for 36 points last Saturday to lead Kerman past Tulare Western, 66-59, in a showcase event. In the same game, he had four steals and made 10-of-11 free throws, according to CIF Central Section historian Bob Barnett.
Previous to the Tulare Western game and before the calendar year changed, Von knocked down 37 points in a 62-61 loss to Immanuel of Reedley and he had 31 points in a 72-65 loss to Justin Garza of Fresno. Bibioff also is averaging 2.1 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 3.5 steals per game.
Andri Wilkinson shows good shooting form, which is what all players at Pinewood have considering their head coach, Doc Scheppler, is one of the most well-known shooting coaches in the nation. Photo: X.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Girls Player of the Week
Andri Wilkinson (Pinewood, Los Altos Hills) Sr.
We have to admit that some weeks and for some of the slots that we choose players for that it can be very difficult. For the NorCal girls this week, there were no nominations that came in and there wasn’t a strong candidate that was found through various searches who scored 30 points or more in a winning game. The next step when that happens is to look for top players from top-ranked teams, which led us to Pinewood’s Wilkinson.
The Panthers under longtime head coach Doc Scheppler are always good, but this year’s team at first glance based on players lost to graduation didn’t seem like it might be as strong as usual. With Wilkinson and returning standout Kaitlyn Kramer, however, Pinewood has been the same and Wilkinson, a 6-foot senior forward, has been a double-double machine.
In a game at last weekend’s Sabrina Ionescu Showcase played at Carondelet/De La Salle in Concord, Wilkinson had a double-double of 24 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Panthers to a 74-52 triumph vs Lincoln of Stockton. They improved their early-season record to 8-0 heading into a Tuesday home game this week vs St. Joseph of Santa Maria.
Wilkinson also had a double-double in her previous game, which was 19 points and 14 rebounds in a 84-34 romp past Marin Catholic of Kentfield. The one last Saturday vs Lincoln also was her fifth of the season. She is averaging 15.3 points, 9.9 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game. Kramer is just higher at 15.5 ppg.
We did not know after selecting Andri that she has signed with Point Loma Nazarene for college. The twist surrounding that is that her future teammate at Point Loma Nazarene and the only other player that so far is coming in to that team as a freshman next season is Ventura’s Kai Staniland, who was the very first SoCal Girls Player of the Week for this season selected just a few weeks ago.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Girls Player of the Week
Jackie Polk (Rialto) Sr.
For our final stop this week, we head out to the Inland Empire region of SoCal to visit with a girl that became known to many around the state when she was a freshman at her former school of Los Osos of Rancho Cucamonga. Polk had a day to remember in the CIF D3 state championship as a freshman when she scored 30 points to help Los Osos defeat Colfax. With an outing like that, of course she was considered for the State Freshman of the Year honor.
Polk is now in her second year of putting up bushels of points at Rialto. The 5-foot-5 guard averaged 23.5 ppg last season there and with high scoring teammate Carrington Davis now graduated she has been scoring even more this season.
In a 82-47 win last week vs Hesperia at the Serrano tourney, Jackie poured in a career high of 47 points. In the week before Christmas, Polk had back-to-back outings of 36 and 33 points in easy wins vs Riverside Prep and Barstow. She is averaging 25.6 ppg heading into a non-league matchup this week that her 15-3 team has with Grand Terrace.
Cherif Millogo from St. Francis of La Canada has made the type of impact one might expect from a 7-foot-3 center. Photo: gogoldenknights.net.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Boys Player of the Week
Cherif Millogo (St. Francis, La Canada) Jr.
As they have been saying about Millogo’s arrival at St. Francis this season, “there’s a new Cherif in town.” The 7-foot-3 center is from the African nation of Burkina Faso. He didn’t play last season while attending a school in Massachusetts. His legal guardian is Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, a former UCLA and NBA player from Cameroon. Cherif is playing now for head coach Todd Wolfson and the Golden Knights. As tall as he is, he has been dominating.
Millogo had 30 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists in his first game this season, which came in a rout vs Arleta. He is being honored for two outings he had last Friday and Saturday at showcase events, which came a couple of days after being named MVP of a tournament.
The MVP honor came at the Holiday Hoopfest tourney early last week after St. Francis topped Long Beach Poly, 48-43, in the title game. Millogo had 22 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocks. Then last Friday in a 58-41 win against Fairfax of Los Angeles, Cherif was in charge with a triple-double of 18 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocks that also almost was a quadruple-double with eight assists. Millogo’s week concluded with 34 points and 23 rebounds for the Golden Knights as they dispatched Servite of Anaheim, 78-66.
St. Francis is taking a 16-2 record into a major matchup on Wednesday vs state No. 1 Sierra Canyon of Chatsworth that will get the team’s Mission League schedule underway.
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:
