Author Archives: Harold Abend
BallisLife Girls All-American Game
Amalia Holguin, Cydnee Bryant & Karisma Flores lead team to win in BallisLife All-American Game played at Sea World in San Diego. The two teams also were coached by San Diego area legends Terri Bamford and Marlon Wells. FOR COVERAGE OF THE BALLISLIFE BOYS GAME THAT FEATURED BIG OUTINGS FROM CALIFORNIA’S JASON CROWE JR. & […]
State Baseball/Softball Players of Week
There were no entries to track for the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book this week, which is one of the goals of this feature, but we had lots of hidden talent that gets statewide recognition to go with local honors, and that is the other goal of the feature. This week, we visit Poway and […]
Ms. Basketball 2026: Kaleena Smith
Choosing a junior for the state’s longest-running and perhaps most prestigious individual honor can create some problems, but it was no problem at all that Ontario Christian’s very special point guard who averaged 31.5 ppg for the CIF Open Division state champions has to be Ms. Basketball for 2026. Kaleena will now look to become […]
State Coach of Year: Marlon Wells
For the third time in six years, the state’s most prestigious and long-running girls basketball coaching honor goes to someone from the Inland Empire. But Rancho Christian’s Marlon Wells hasn’t won that many of his more than 600 career wins at the school located in Temecula. He’s gained success at two schools in the CIF […]
Norco captures sixth Carew title
In a championship game matchup on Saturday at Peralta Park in Anaheim, state No. 3 Cougars took down No. 2 Fullerton, 7-0, as their pitching all week was dominant. The Indians, who got past Orange Lutheran in the semifinals earlier on Saturday, had to rest their No. 1 pitcher and Norco’s bats got going, especially […]
Carew boasts loaded field
The 41st anniversary of the top tournament and grandmother of girls softball tournaments in California, and the 27th time it has been played as the Michelle Carew Classic, is going on this week at Peralta Park in Anaheim, and this year’s field is loaded. Highly-ranked Fullerton (12-1) is ready to roll at this year’s Michelle […]
Sopak leaves Carondelet for UNR
Last season’s State Coach of the Year in girls basketball is going to take the plunge into college coaching as Carondelet of Concord’s Kelly Sopak (also the former head coach at Miramonte of Orinda when Sabrina Ionescu was there) is going to take over the program at the University of Nevada. It is a bit […]
CIF Saturday Girls BB State Finals
With junior sensation Kaleena Smith leading the way, Ontario Christian completes its remarkable build from small school to CIF Open Division state champion with victory in long-anticipated matchup over Archbishop Mitty of San Jose. Sierra Pacific also wins All-Central Section D2 title and Faith Christian wins D4 title in last game of record-breaking career of […]
NEW Girls BB State TOP 30 Rankings
Talk about some movement. Not one team in the first 15 spots maintained last week’s ranking this week after there were some upsets and seeds that went down. Ontario Christian is back on top and Archbishop Mitty is No. 2 as the two will need to win on Tuesday to force a rematch for the...
