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Saturday, April 16, 2011
Awards Edition
Daily General Excellence Winners
Comments provided by Blue Ribbon Judges
San Francisco Chronicle Daily (A) 100,001 & Above “This is an energetic, lively newspaper. The design is inviting and the stories well-written and well-edited. The front pages are newsy and the inside pages are welldesigned. Congratulations on a great job!”
The Desert Sun, Palm Springs
Daily (B) 25,001 – 100,000 “This is a traditional but classic-looking newspaper that is well designed. Solid covers, centerpieces and writing. Good use of color and graphic presentation. Excellent work! Congratulations!”
Sports Story, Weekly (11,001 - 25,000) Second Place Mountain Democrat, Placerville
Lady Trojans are No. 1 The Oak Ridge girls basketball team makes state tournament history in Bakersfield by Jerry Heinzer , Staff Writer
B
AKERSFIELD — They did it! Against tall odds Saturday night in Bakersfield, the Oak Ridge High girls didn’t blink. Facing a formidable opponent in nationally-ranked Poly, Long Beach, for the 2010 California Interscholastic Federation Division I state title, they didn’t back down. Playing in foreign territory against the third-ranked team in the country at Rabobank Arena, the Lady Trojans, who were ranked 40th, grabbed their share of history after dethroning the four-time champion Jackrabbits 55-42 to cap a remarkable postseason run. “Alot of people didn’t think we had much of a shot as the underdogs but we were contending and tonight the contenders won the state title,” Trojan coach Steve White said. “I’m so proud of the girls ... what an amazing performance. The defense was outstanding and we did a great job controlling the tempo. The girls played with confidence and we’ve said all along that ‘we’re playing to win it and not here to lose.’” Oak Ridge had nothing to lose — but everything to gain against a Poly team defending for the fifth straight season — and with all the added pressure. The Jackrabbits, who were used to being in front, didn’t have a game plan for playing from behind. They grew more and more frustrated in their inability to overtake the Trojans in the second half and then wilted under Oak Ridge’s game-closing 15-2 run. “I think had they took the lead it would have given them an adrenaline rush but I was confident the girls would right the ship and we could come back,” White said. Now the only ship Troy plans to take is at Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean where the team will celebrate being the first-ever large school from the Sac-Joaquin Section to win a state D-1 basketball title. And the Trojans beat a team from the largest high school in California — 5,130 students, which is twice the size of Oak Ridge.
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Oak Ridge had a big postgame dinner planned Saturday as hundreds of Trojans fans waited for the team to appear on Rabobank’s concourse. The girls are the second Oak Ridge team to win an improbable state title by knocking off the pregame favorite. The boys program won the D-II title in 2005 against powerhouse Mater Dei, in what was billed a no-contest contest before the game by all the “experts.” “I can’t wait for the state championship emblem to go on the floor next to the boys. This is a dream come true and it’s great to know that some of our younger girls really came through tonight,” said Sara James, whose brother Kevin played on the 2005 team. “In warm-ups you could tell people were looking at us like ‘that’s the team that beat Berkeley?’ But we’ve been underestimated the whole season and just played harder, kept our composure and worked together.” James scored 26 points, 20 in a remarkable first half, before fouling out with 55 seconds left in her last game for Oak Ridge. Just as it looked like Poly was off to the races early in the game, James literally took over. The Trojans also got a big contribution off the bench from junior Dakota McLarnan, who pumped in 14 big points and tied a state finals record by making four, three-pointers. Junior Stefanie Walberg also gave Oak Ridge a lift inside when she came in for Caitlin Welsch, who was in foul trouble early, to battle Poly’s post players. With James saddled with second-half foul trouble, the El Dorado Hills squad banded together to hold, protect and extend the lead. Key to the Trojans’ victory was their zone defense that successfully slowed a Jackrabbit offense averaging 68 points a game. Oak Ridge held Poly to .292 shooting from the floor and 2-for-12 in the fourth quarter when Troy honed in on the win. From beyond the arc, Poly was 2-of-15. Welsch and Megan Griswold both blocked shots and the Trojans hauled down 21 defensive rebounds against a team known for its rebounding.
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