Basketball wins, Hall enliven week at Oakland Tech
Last week couldn’t have gone much better for the Oakland Tech athletic department.
In the same week the Bulldogs introduced their inaugural Hall of Fame class, the boys basketball team pulled out a surprising 81-79 home overtime victory over archrival and previous Chronicle No. 12 Oakland, and the girls basketball team won three straight to move up to a season-best No. 5 in The Chronicle’s rankings.
The girls improved to 15-5 on Saturday with a 72-50 win over No. 13 Heritage-Brentwood at the second annual Sabrina Ionescu SI20 Showcase at Carondelet-Concord, where the WNBA All-Star’s high school coach, Kelly Sopak, now coaches.
Tech’s Taliyah Logwood, a 5foot-9 junior wing, put up an Ionescu-like triple-double with 37 points, 13 rebounds and 11 steals to earn game MVP honors. More impressive: She did so coming off the bench as she has done most of the season.
“Taliyah could be starting, but I’m keeping her hungry and making her value her opportunities,” Oakland Tech coach Leroy Hurt told Prep2Prep editor Harold Abend.
The night before, the Bulldogs routed Oakland 72-24 behind 16 points from Terri’A Russell and 12 from Logwood. Tech won state titles in 2019 and ’21, but Hurt said: “This is the deepest and best team I’ve ever had.”
After the game — and before the Bulldog boys’ thrilling OT win — the school introduced its HOF class and it was a doozy, topped by baseball Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, AllPro NFL running back Marshawn Lynch, former WNBA guard Alexis Gray-Lawson, former NBA power forward and champion Leon Powe and current San Francisco 49ers backup quarterback Josh Johnson. Lynch, Gray-Lawson and Powe all went to Cal.
In other SI20 Showcase results: No. 2 Piedmont (18-0) got 23 points and six 3-pointers from Madison Hill, Natalia Martinez added 17 and Eva Levingston contributed 11 points and 12 rebounds in a 66-51 win over Acalanes-Lafayette (13-6), which was led by Karyss Lacanlale (24 points) and Sophie Chinn (16 points, 12 rebounds). … No. 3 Salesian-Richmond (17-4) dropped a 55-50 game to Folsom (17-2) despite 18 points, seven rebounds, four steals and three assists by senior point guard Makiah Asidanya . ... Jamie Kent had 12 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists leading host Carondelet (18-4) to a 68-39 win over Moreau Catholic-Hayward (11-8), which got 22 points from Dymonique Maxie. … No. 11 Marin CatholicKentfield (15-5) put up a good fight against national top 25 Clovis West (22-0), but y fell 56-38. An 18-0 run to start the fourth quarter did in the Wildcats, who got 15 points on five 3-pointers from Izzy McFadden.
Crush of the Valley: The return of injured senior wing LeBrie Goudy-Lee has proved vital for Moreau Catholic’s boys basketball team, especially in a 70-63 win over state top 25 Folsom on Saturday at the Crush in the Valley Showcase at Contra Costa College. Kellen Hampton, a 6-7 sophomore, had his usual dominating game with 30 points but it was Goudy-Lee’s 22 that keyed the victory for the Mariners (12-5) over the Bulldogs (20-2). … Salesian’s boys (14-7) hung tough for more than three quarters against defending state Open Division champion CentennialCorona but fell 64-52 despite 15 points from Amani Johnson and 14 from Alvin Loving. Five-star senior guard Jared McCain (Duke commit) did in the Pride with 25 points and Devin Williams added 15 for Centennial (20-3). … Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland senior Amos Hodgson, coming off game MVP honors at the De La Salle/MLK Classic, backed it up with 26 points, including eight 3-pointers, in a 6557 win over Grant-Sacramento. Josh Green added 12 for the Dragons (9-10).
Rashada release
The University of Florida reportedly granted the release of Pittsburg five-star quarterback Jaden Rashada on Friday, reopening what has been a messy and complicated recruitment of the All-Metro QB.
After decommitting from Miami in November, Rashada signed with Gators on Dec. 21. But after a reported $13 million name, image and likeness deal he made with an independent fundraising collective was pulled, Rashada asked for his release.
According to 247Sports, Rashada visited Arizona State, where his father Harlen played in the 1990s, over the weekend and now is eyeing TCU as a possible landing spot. Cal and Washington also are being considered.