in the paint
Wildcats prove they can run with the big girls By Clay kallam | Contributor Dougherty Valley is an unknown quantity no longer. The Wildcats have simmered beneath the surface in the crowded Bay Area basketball scene, primarily because the new school in San Ramon has had a varsity team for only three years. But Dougherty Valley did go 26-4 last season before getting knocked off in the NorCal playoffs by Del OroLoomis. That semi-upset led many to discount the Wildcats, who hadn’t played in a lot of high-profile events and simply hadn’t been seen by a lot of the girls’ basketball cognoscenti. What was needed was a signature win — and Dougherty Valley got just that in the Campolindo Shootout by knocking off four-time state champion Archbishop Mitty-San Jose 61-60 in the best game of the seven played on Jan. 22. “Now more people will understand the level we play at,” said coach Doug VanderHorst, who took over the program last year and after that win, had a 41-6 record in San Ramon. They also understand that Dougherty Valley is more than just senior star rayven Brooks, who transferred to San Ramon after spending her first two years at then-national power Sacred Heart Cathedral-San Francisco. Brooks, the 5-11 leading scorer, whose talent has major college programs eager to sign her, was a complete nonfactor in the Saturday event due to foul trouble. She played fewer than five minutes, took one shot, and scored no points before fouling out. Yet the Wildcats still managed to gut out a win. The key player, though, wasn’t even treyvonna Brooks (Rayven’s 6-1 junior sibling), Carolyn Hughes (a 6-2 junior wing), or Jasmine Jenkins (a 6-2 sophomore post) — all of whom are D1 prospects. Instead, the hero’s mantle fell on 5-6 junior point guard Jackie Taylor, who has started since her freshman season but has never been given the credit she showed she deserved. Taylor exploded for 23 points — “That’s at least 10 points more than my career high,” she said afterward — and buried a series of clutch shots after Rayven Brooks fouled out with 5:36 in the game. “It was in the back of mind that if I were to step up, this would be the game,” she said. “I was looking to be less passive.” So instead of utilizing her usual precise passing to get the ball to Treyvonna Brooks and Jenkins in the post, Thomas looked to score — while handling Mitty’s intense pressure with aplomb. “Jackie Taylor was just ridiculous,” said VanderHorst. But she was far from the only one on the floor making big
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SportStars™
January 27, 2011
NorCal Girls Top 15 Records are through Jan. 22. Teams from the Central Section are not considered. Rank, prev. School .................................record 1 (3) Berkeley ................................................ 16-1 2 (2) St. Mary’s-Stockton .............................. 10-2 3 (1) Carondelet............................................. 15-3 4 (4) St. Mary’s-Berkeley............................... 16-4 5 (5) Dougherty Valley................................... 16-2 6 (10) Presentation-San Jose ....................... 14-4 7 (9) Archbishop Mitty-San Jose......................11-6 8 (12) Pinewood-Los Altos Hills ..................... 13-4 9 (11) Deer Valley .............................................9-6 10 (13) Estsde Coll. Prp-Palo Alto..........................12-6 11 (7) St. Ignatius-S.F. ................................... 13-4 12 (15) Bishop O’Dowd..................................11-7 13 (nr) Del Oro-Loomis ................................. 15-3 14 (nr) St. Francis-Sacramento...................... 13-4 15 (8) Sacramento ........................................ 14-4 plays down the stretch. With Dougherty clinging to a 55-54 lead in the last minute, junior Krista Flores was fouled and sent to the line in as pressure-packed situation as a high school player is likely to face — and yet Flores hardly expected to even be on the court in that situation. Not only was Rayven Brooks fouled out and on the bench, junior guard (Brooks’ likely replacement) was in street clothes after hurting her knee against Las Lomas the night before.
Flores, however, drained both free throws to make it 57-54 with 51 seconds left. Mitty, though, sporting a roster filled with 3-point shooters, got several good looks. The Monarchs missed the first but after Hughes got the rebound, she turned it over – and what followed was a mad scramble. Dougherty Valley would get close to gaining possession, and a Mitty player would tip it away. Bodies would hit the floor and the ball would squirt from player to player with no one able to gain control until Desirae sanchez got the ball on the wing with 12 seconds left. As seniors do, she came through, burying the 3 to tie the game. The Wildcats pushed the ball down the floor, and yet another unsung hero made a play: Briana Gaines, who played soccer last winter instead of basketball, knifed through the lane and finished strong at the rim to break the tie with eight seconds to go, and after a Mitty turnover and foul with 1.03 seconds left, it looked to be all over. Taylor stepped to the line with a two-point lead with, as she said, “a ton of adrenaline. But I knew I needed to be composed.” Composed she was, and dropped through two free throws that just seemed like icing on the cake, as Dougherty now led 61-57. But when Ashley Watson tossed in a three-quarter court desperation heave at the buzzer, Taylor’s two free throws proved to be much more a main course than dessert as the Wildcats survived, 61-60. “This meant something to our school,” said Taylor after the win — and it had to mean more than a little to her as well.
Shootout snippets There were several other interesting results at the Shootout, now in its 13th year. St. Francis of Sacramento forced 36 Campolindo turnovers en route to erasing a 10-point secondhalf deficit and knocking off the hosts, 75-68. Annie Ward had 24 for the Cougars, hitting seven 3’s, but the Troubadours’ pressure and balanced scoring proved to be too much for
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