Author Archives: Harold Abend
Girls of Summer Player Rankings (Pt 1)
For the 21st year of doing this feature, our girls hoops lead analyst provides the names of more than 100 California high school girls basketball players who have received a dot system ranking of 7.0 or higher, led by returning Ms. Basketball State Player of the Year Kaleena Smith with a 9.6. Her former teammate,...
MD Catholic gets SoCal D1 repeat
Coaches at Chula Vista school tell their players “not to bother” trying out for their team if they can’t commit to playing as late as the CIF SoCal regional playoffs. On Saturday, with University of Arizona commit Arri Romero leading the way, the Crusaders won the CIF SoCal D1 regional title for the second straight […]
All-State Girls BB 2026: First Team
Ms. Basketball State Player of the Year Kaleena Smith of Ontario Christian and just officially named NorCal Player of the Year McKenna Woliczko of Archbishop Mitty are among the headliners on the 47th annual Cal-Hi Sports all-state girls basketball teams. We also found it correct to have a spot for the top junior, sophomore and […]
All-State Girls BB 2026: 2nd & 3rd Tms
The 47th annual Cal-Hi Sports All-State Girls Basketball Teams also concludes with the release of all of the writeups for those who have been selected second team overall and third team overall. Four more freshmen and one more sophomore along with seven juniors land in these groups, which are not limited by year in school...
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 […]
