West Coast Jamboree takes center stage again
It just continues to grow. The 18th West Coast Jamboree, the nation’s largest girls basketball tournament, features 160 teams from six states and 20 divisions.
It begins Thursday and runs through Dec. 30 at 12 Bay Area venues.
The top division — the eightteam Platinum at Clayton Valley-Concord — includes the nation’s No. 4 squad, Mitty, along with three other Metro ranked squads: No. 2 SalesianRichmond, No. 6 CarondeletConcord and No. 12 Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland.
Chaminade-West Hills — the State 2016 Open Division and 2014 Division 2 champion — and nationally ranked Folsom are also in the bracket.
Mitty, 7-0 after a 57-49 Nike Tournament of Champions quarterfinal win over St. John’s College-Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, boasts one of the nation’s top juniors in 6-foot-1 Haley Jones (19.1 points, 9.9 rebounds, 3.7 blocks, 3.9 assists per game), along with Penn State-signee and 4-star point guard Karisma Ortiz (13.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, 4.1 assists per game).
Other college signees or highly rated national players in the Platinum bracket include 6-2 post Nicole Blakes (Mitty, University of San Diego), 6-5 junior Angel Jackson (Salesian), 6-foot wing McKenzie Forbes (Folsom, Cal), senior guard Kiara Jefferson (West Campus-Sacramento, UCLA) and junior guard RyAnne Walters (Sacramento).
Four more Metro ranked squads — No. 4 Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa, No. 7 Miramonte-Orinda, No. 13 Sacred Heart Cathedral and No. 19 St. Francis — are a part of the Diamond Division at College Park-Pleasant Hill.
Other venues are HeritageBrentwood, Dublin, Alhambra Martinez, Bethel-Vallejo, Castro Valley, Ygnacio ValleyConcord, Cornerstone Christian-Antioch, Monte VistaDanville, St. Patrick-St. Vincent-Vallejo and Amador Valley-Pleasanton. Trojans rising: The girls team that has risen the furthest since our preseason rankings is Castro Valley, from No. 20 to No. 10. The Trojans have a quality win at No. 16 CaliforniaSan Ramon (65-61), but their most impressive victory was a 110-69 decision at Livermore on Monday.
Bailey Jones and Torrie Nelson had 20 points apiece for the Trojans, who had a 35-point second quarter. Remember, preps play eight-minute periods. Led by longtime coach Jim Lemmon, Castro Valley is averaging 73.3 points per game.
Castro Valley hosts Oregon power South Medford in firstround WCJ Emerald Division play Thursday. South Medford, has won at least 22 games for seven straight seasons, posting a 30-0 record in 2011-12. More unbeatens: The girls from Dublin and James LoganUnion City are both 8-0 and enter the rankings this week. Dublin, which has won by an average score of 70-30, is led by 5-10 senior Lesila Finau (21.3 points per game). Logan, with loads of balance, is led by 6-0 wing Indya Williams (12.6 ppg). No fluke: University’s boys team (9-0) has proved itself beyond a small-school power. The Red Devils beat 15thranked Riordan 81-66 two weeks ago behind 34 points from 6-4 Spencer Spivy, outscoring the Crusaders 42-24 in the second half. James Chun and Je’Lani Clark combined for 35 for Riordan.
University came back last week with a 65-50 win over defending state D3 champion and previously 15th-ranked Mission.
The Red Devils’ next game is Wednesday against University Irvine in the first round of the Don Bambauer Memorial Holiday Classic at Marin CatholicKentfield. The Southern California school has one of the state’s leading scorers, 6-5 guard Alex Bray (26.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, 4.1 assists per game).
Among other top teams in the tournament are eighthranked Heritage, Serra and Miramonte-Orinda.