Jam-Packed Sierra Smith’s emotional reward and other highlights from the West Coast Jamboree, plus an MLK Classic glance Despite a closely-contested final from a strong St. Ignatius squad, the St. Mary’s-Stockton girls basketball took care of business in the West Coast Jamboree Platinum Division final on Dec. 30 at Las Positas College. Rams’ 5-foot-9 guard Mi’Cole Cayton would take home the Scoop Jackson MVP award for the Platinum Division after posting 16 points, five rebounds, five steals and three assists in the 60-51 finals victory. However, the better postgame award story belongs to sophomore guard Sierra Smith. She was honored with the Jim Capoot Award which celebrates the tournament’s best example of sportsmanship and inspirational play. But the rest of the story is the moving part. In November of 2011, Jim Capoot, the former Vallejo High girls basketball head coach who led his team to the 2009 CIF SacJoaquin Section Division II championship, was killed in the line of duty as a Vallejo police officer. Smith is the daughter of Kindred Ross, an assistant to Capoot at Vallejo when they won the CIFSJS title and until his tragic murder. Nine-year old Sierra was a ball girl on the 2009 championship team and on the 2010 team as well. “That day I had a middle school game and when I got home I found out he died,” Smith said. “Jim was in my life. I was at every game and every practice. I wouldn’t be where I’m at without him. I was just nine and he would let me practice with the high school varsity girls. Once I found out he died I lost part of who I was. He was really close to me.” Besides Sierra and her mother, Capoot was also close to her older brother Jason Galbraith. “My brother is only a Marine because Jim was a Marine,” Smith said. Sierra knew about the Jim Capoot Award and its criteria and dreamed of winning it last year as a freshman. “I remember last year I cried when I didn’t win because I thought I let him down,” Smith continued. “When my name was called this year (pause and sigh), at that moment all I could think about was I knew Jim was proud of me. This year for sure I made him proud.” Smith had seven points, five assists and three steals in the championship game. One day earlier she posted 13 points, eight assists and four steals in a semifinal win over South Medford. BATTERING RAMS: Aside from Cayton, and Smith to a lesser degree, St. Mary’s showcased the West Coast Jamboree crowd just how deep its nationally-ranked team is. Aquira DeCosta, a 6-foot-2 freshman phenom, had a monster double-double against St. Ignatius. DeCosta finished with 14 points and 17 rebounds. She can play any position on the court, and is considered by many analysts as one the top girls from the class of 2018 in the country. Meanwhile, the 5-foot-8 Angel Johnson was able to go up against the big girls from St. Ignatius. With 10 rebounds (nine points), the Rams junior had more rebounds than any of the Wildcats girls. “I don’t expect her to dominate inside but Angel just continues
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to over achieve,” Rams coach Tom Gonsalves remarked. EYE ON ST. I: St. Ignatius showed why it was the Bay Area’s top team and deserving of its state No. 6 state ranking coming into the Jamboree. With the win over previous No. 4 Chaminade-West Hills in the semifinals and the effort against St. Mary’s, it’s likely the San Francisco girls will stick around in the upper half of the rankings. Saint Mary’s College-bound Sydney Raggio had a gamehigh 17 points with seven rebounds in the championship and Columbia-bound 6-foot-3 Josie Little had eight points and nine rebounds. The guards for St. Ignatius played as well as anyone has against the pressure of St. Mary’s-Stockton this season. UC San Diego-bound Jolene Yang led the backcourt with eight points and four assists. “We didn’t shoot well and their pressure did have a lot to do with that. Still, it was a great week for us,” said Wildcats head coach Mike Mulkerrins. “I’d sure love to play them again and it would be great if it was in the NorCal Open Division title game.” CARONDELET ROLLS ON: Their All-State point guard has graduated and their decorated coach of more than 20 years retired, but the Cougars looked nothing like a team in transition as it cruised to a Diamond Division title. Carondelet used a balanced scoring attack and the Tournament MVP-play of point guard Marcella Hughes to post double-digits wins over Berkeley, Sacramento and Bishop Manogue-Reno (NV.). The Cougars showcased a good amount of depth and a lot of young talent that will only get better with experience. “Team play has been the biggest key so far,” Leslie said after the team’s semifinal blowout of Sacramento. “We’re minus that one superstar, but together we’re very good. As they embrace that, we’re getting better and better every game. We’re getting better defensively too. So once we're really good defensively, we’ll really be scary.”
BOYS BASKETBALL
MLK LINEUP LOADED: De La Salle’s premier mid-season Martin Luther King Classic Showcase at Cal’s Haas Pavilion has a stellar slate of games once again. The Jan. 19 event will feature six games highlighted by a 5:45 p.m. showdown between the host Spartans and defending CIF Div. III state champion Chaminade-West Hills. De La Salle was 11-1 through Jan. 12 with its lone loss being a six-point defeat to Bishop Montgomery-Torrance (the defending CIF Div. IV state champ) in a SoCal tournament championship on Dec. 30. Chaminade was 14-2 and through Jan. 12 and is lead by Montana-commit Michael Oguine. Oguine averages 23 points and eight rebounds a game for the Eagles. Other intriguing matchups at the showcase include: Berkely vs. El Cerrito (10:30 a.m.), Salesian-Richmond vs. St. Mary’s-Stockton (2 p.m.) and Archbishop Mitty-San Jose vs. Moreau CatholicHayward (7:30 p.m.) — Harold Abend & Chace Bryson
Records are through Jan. 11 1. (1)
— Bishop O’Dowd
7-2
2. (2)
— Folsom
13-3
3. (3)
— Archbishop Mitty-San Jose
8-3
4. (4)
— El Cerrito
12-2
5. (5)
— De La Salle
11-1
6. (6)
— Moreau Catholic-Hayward
8-5
7. (7)
— Drake-San Anselmo
14-2
8. (8)
— Campolindo-Moraga
12-2
9. (9)
— Sacramento
11-4
10. (11) ▲
St. Francis-Mountain View
10-1
11. (14) ▲
Monte Vista-Danville
12-2
12. (10) ▼
Modesto Christian
10-3
13. (12) ▼
St. Mary’s-Stockton
10-5
14. (13) ▼
San Ramon Valley-Danville
12-2
15. (17) ▲
Woodcreek-Roseville
14-3
16. (19) ▲
Pleasant Grove-Elk Grove
10-4
17. (NR) ▲
Liberty Ranch-Galt
15-1
18. (18) — Serra-San Mateo
9-3
19. (15) ▼
Salesian-Richmond
10-4
20. (NR) ▲
Granada-Livermore
11-3
DROPPED OUT No. 16 Jesuit-Carmichael and No. 20 Kennedy-Sacramento
BIGGEST MOVER Among the team’s that were ranked entering January,
Monte Vista made the biggest climb — jumping three spots to No. 11 thanks to a 66-64 win over No. 2 Folsom on Jan. 10. We chose not to dock Folsom for the loss because
it would mean dropping them behind a No. 3 Mitty team
which the Bulldogs already own a win over. A two-point loss to ranked team didn’t seem like a big enough hiccup to do
that. Liberty Ranch-Galt also moved three spots by debut-
ing at No. 17. The Hawks’ biggest win so far appears to be an 84-81 win over Cosumnes Oaks-Elk Grove.
TEAMS STILL RANKED FROM PRESEASON TOP 20: 14
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January 15, 2015
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