Coach Don Lippi reaches milestone 900th hoops win
Don Lippi’s 800th boys basketball coaching win came on a big stage five years ago when he led St. Joseph Notre Dame to a victory in the Division V state championship game.
Saturday, in the middle of a long-delayed, pandemic-shortened season, Lippi’s SJND team traveled to Hayward and beat Encinal 56-37.
The victory was the coach’s 900th.
He is the fifth boys basketball coach in California history to reach that number, according to Cal-Hi Sports.
Ten players scored for the Pilots on Saturday and, afterward, the entire team signed a basketball as Lippi held up a small poster that stated, “900.”
Lippi, 73, is in his 42nd season coaching high school basketball, a run that included 13 years across the Bay at St. Ignatius.
Saturday, Trevino Tzahari (12 points) and Ali Bledsoe (11 points) scored in double figures for SJND. NO. 2 DUBLIN 68, NO. 9 DE LA SALLE57,OT>> Dublin completed a sweep of De La Salle as the Gaels overcame a late seven-point deficit on the road to force overtime and then dominated the extra session. Friday, at home, Dublin beat DLS 63-57.
In Saturday’s victory, Caleb Oden’s drive with 22 seconds left in regulation pulled Dublin (6-1) to within 55-54. After a De La Salle free throw, Courtney Anderson’s drive sent the game to overtime tied 5656.
Anderson drove to the basket again to start OT, and the Gaels didn’t look back, outscoring De La Salle 12-1 in the extra period.
NO. 10 ARCHBISHOP RIORDAN 77, CAPITAL CHRISTIAN 66 >> Campolindo was supposed to play at Capital Christian-Sacramento on Saturday. But because of COVID-19 protocols, the Bay Area News Group’s topranked team can’t play until at least Wednesday.
So Riordan filled Campo’s spot and returned home to San Francisco with its most impressive victory of the season. Leading by two at halftime, Riordan widened the advantage to
11 by the end of the third quarter.
Zion Sensley, a 6-foot-7 freshman, led Riordan with 21 points.
NO. 15 HALF MOON BAY 77, SACRED HEART PREP 71, OT >> Half Moon Bay heated up in the fourth quarter, rallying from 12 points behind after three periods to win on the road in overtime.
Mykola Ediger scored 23 points to lead HMB (132). Aidan Braccia had 28 points and Harrison Carrington added 18 points for SHP (8-5).
Football
BEST TO COACH AT ST. MARY’S>> Former Cal football star Jahvid Best will become the next head football coach at St. Mary’s High School-Berkeley.
Best, who starred at Salesian Prep and later at Cal and in the NFL, replaces Connor Banks. Banks left to take an administrative job at another school, St. Mary’s athletic director Casey Filson said.
Girls basketball
NO. 1 ARCHBISHOP MITTY 98,
NO. 9 ST. IGNATIUS 42 >> Mitty, playing at home in San Jose, outscored its guests 26-5 in the first quarter on its way to a seventh consecutive victory.
The Monarchs (7-1) had four players score in double figures: Hunter Hernandez (17); Olivia Williams (16); Morgan Cheli (15) and Amelia Scharpf (11).
NO. 2 PINEWOOD 79, PALO ALTO 50 >> Courtni Thompson scored 15 points and Una Jovanovic added 13 points to lead Pinewood to its eighth straight win. Pinewood made 13 3-pointers and 10 players scored.
Baseball NO. 2 ARCHBISHOP MITTY 8, NO. 4 VALLEY CHRISTIAN 3 >>
Chris Stivaletti had three hits, scored a run and knocked in a run to lead Mitty, playing at home in San Jose, to a series win over Valley Christian. Valley beat Mitty on Tuesday. Mitty (13-4) answered with wins on Thursday and Saturday.
The teams are 3-3 against
each other this spring.
Jeff Heard had two hits and two RBIs for Valley (156).
ST. IGNATIUS 5, NO. 3 SERRA 1 >>
Serra, playing on the road, was unable to complete a three-game sweep as Malcom Felix and Cooper Lee each drove in two runs and Jackson Short allowed only an unearned run in five innings to lead St. Ignatius.
Serra dropped to 16-3. SI is 11-8.
NO. 9 ST. FRANCIS 12, BELLARMINE0>> Ryan Lee and Max Ross each had three hits and five RBIs to lead St. Francis (13-5) to its second three-game sweep of rival Bellarmine this spring. Bellarmine is 6-15.
Softball CAPUCHINO 6, PRESENTATION5>>
Capuchino scored six in the third inning to overcome a 3-0 deficit and held on for the non-league victory. Madison Choi drove in three runs with a double and Selah Romero had two hits and two RBIs to lead Capuchino (10-6).