Amalia Holguin of the Sage Hill girls basketball team concentrates at the free throw line during Monday’s big win at Rosary of Fullerton vs Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas. Photo: kylesbny / Instagram.com.
Lightning stretch win streak to 14 games after massive 88-58 win on MLK Monday at the Royal Showcase event in Fullerton over Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas. Gorman was No. 5 in the nation last week. Etiwanda and Fairmont Prep also post wins on the same court.
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To say Sage Hill of Newport Beach is on a roll would be a bit of an understatement. That’s especially true after what the team did on Monday.
Under new head coach Jethro Julian, Cal-Hi Sports No. 6 ranked Sage Hill has now won 14 straight games since a 59-56 loss to Oak Park that had it at 5-4 to start the season.
The first win in the streak was a 68-39 rout of a Santa Margarita Catholic (Rancho Santa Margarita) team that last week took down Cal-Hi Sports No. 5 JSerra of San Juan Capistrano. There have some other big wins along the way over ranked teams, including a 67-58 win over St. Mary’s of Stockton (No. 6 at the time), however it was win No. 14 in a row on Monday that really turned some heads as the Lightning totally dismantled Nevada No. 1 and national No. 5 Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas, 88-58, at the 2nd Annual Royal Showcase at Rosary Academy in Fullerton.
We did not produce a new State TOP 30 ranking this week with all of the Monday games but we did update our top five ticker on the CalHiSports.com home page and for that Sage Hill has been lifted up from previous No. 6 to No. 5.
Although Sage Hill has faced nationally ranked opponents from California in previous CIF Southern Section Open Division playoffs, this was a win over a national Nevada powerhouse whose only loss this season was by seven points to national No. 1 Maryland Bishop McNamara. The perennial Maryland national powerhouse also boasts wins over Cal-Hi Sports Nos. 1 and 2 Ontario Christian and Archbishop Mitty of San Jose, respectively, as well as No. 4 Etiwanda.
Kamdyn Klamberg of Sage Hill holds Joe Smith championship trophy that team won at Nike TOC in Arizona. Photo: Courtesy Sage Hill girls basketball.
Unlike three weeks ago when Sage Hill star Kamdyn Klamberg was all-tournament at the Nike event in Portland, or last weekend when she was named MVP of the Sage Hill victory over Moreno Valley at the Kay Yow Showcase at Santa Ana Mater Dei after netting a career-high 31 points, at the Royal Showcase there were no game MVPs. If there were any, Klamberg would certainly have qualified.
Klamberg, a 6-foot junior wing, led Sage Hill (19-4) with 28 points (two three-pointers) and nine rebounds with two assists. Besides the points and rebounds, her overall statistics were outstanding. She was 10-for-15 shooting overall and 2-for-4 from outside the arc, 6-for-6 from the charity stripe, and she only had two turnovers and played outstanding defense while only committing one personal foul.
To take down a team like Bishop Gorman took a lot more than one player and Klamberg got a lot of help in what was a total team effort. All nine players that got on the floor for Sage Hill scored, and besides Klamberg two other Lightning players had very solid games as well.
Texas-committed senior guard Amalia Holguin added 27 points (three three-pointers), six rebounds and seven assists. Her three-pointer tied things at 20-20 at the end of the first quarter when the Gaels led early on. Eve Fowler had one of her best games that we can ever recollect. The 6-foot-4 sophomore center had a double-double 16 points and 13 rebounds with four assists, and helped clean the glass for a Sage Hill team that dominated the boards and out-rebounded Bishop Gorman 49-31.
Bishop Gorman star Lizzy Spaight, a senior guard who like Holguin is committed to Texas, led a Gaels’ team, whose only previous loss in a 14-2 season was to national No. 1 Maryland Bishop McNamara, with 24 points and nine rebounds. Kenzee Holton and Arianna Brewer added 13 and 10 points, respectively.
After it was tied at 20-apiece after one quarter, it was back and forth with six lead changes and four ties in the second quarter before a 7-0 Sage Hill run gave the team a 41-34 lead it would never relinquish. The half ended with Sage Hill leading 43-35 and the Lightning stretched it from there. It was 53-42 before Klamberg made three straight baskets and Fowler converted down low, and at 61-42 with seconds to go in the third quarter the deal was pretty much sealed. Sage Hill then outscored Bishop Gorman 27-14 in the fourth quarter to produce the blowout.
With the JSerra loss, and unless Sage Hill suffers a huge upset in its Pacific Coast League games on Wednesday against St. Margaret’s (San Juan Capistrano) or on Friday versus Irvine Portola, Julian and his Lightning will go to No. 1 in Orange County and as mentioned would stay in the top five of the state.
Besides announcing the Sage Hill upset, yours truly announced the last two games at Rosary on Monday that followed on the eight-game Royal Showcase schedule. Those other two games are below (and yes we did take some notes while the games were going on that we announced).
Etiwanda 71, Francis Parker 45
Cal-Hi Sports No. 4 Etiwanda was only able to use junior center Aliyah Phiilips sparingly due to a recent death in her family, and also junior forward Tess Oldenburg was recovering from walking pneumonia, and it showed early on. But it still turned out to be a good win over state No. 15 Francis Parker of San Diego.
Etiwanda (21-2) trailed early on and only led 17-15 after one quarter and 25-23 midway through the second period, but from there the Eagles pulled away and led 36-27 at halftime and stretched it to 55-37 after three quarters before outscoring the Lancers 16-8 in the fourth quarter to produce an easy win.
Florida-committed guard Arynn Finley led Etiwanda with 21 points and was 3-of-5 on three-pointers. Junior guard Chasity Rice added 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists, and junior wing Andrea Alamo chipped in with 15 points including three three-pointers.
Sophomore forward Isabella Riddle came off the bench to lead Francis Parker (12-6) with 16 points and five rebounds, sophomore Brianna Mendez and freshman Jordan Brown added 11 and 10 points, respectively, and although she only scored six points, junior Brieana Brown pulled down 19 rebounds.
Fairmont Prep (Anaheim) 76,
Brentwood (Los Angeles) 64
The final game of the Royal Showcase saw Cal-Hi Sports No. 12 Fairmont Prep of Anaheim (11-10) overcome a sluggish start and trail 14-12 after one quarter and 33-29 at the half before taking control in the final two quarters to produce a victory over a solid Brentwood (Los Angeles) team that played hard until the final buzzer.
Aaliyah Mack, a 6-foot-3 freshman post, who was our top incoming freshman in the Girls of Summer Player Rankings, played through foul trouble to post a nearly double-double 24 points and nine rebounds. French native and senior forward Sara Aldeguer added a huge double-double 22 points and 17 rebounds, and Harvard-bound senior Adyra Raja, who is one of the state’s all time leading three-point shooters, only connected twice from outside the arc but still finished with 20 points, five rebounds and four assists.
Brentwood (14-6) had four players in double-figure scoring led by junior Reena White with 16 points, including three three-pointers. Sophomore Mikaella Kawahito and junior Lei Tomatsu came off the bench to add 15 points (three three-pointers) and 14 points (three three-pointers), respectively, and sophomore Jessica Liu added 10 points with two three-pointers.
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
