THE NORTH STAR
FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012
SPORTS
D3
Girls and boys basketball progress in CIF-SS tournaments Emily Roose
Sports in Brief
STAFF WRITER
F
or the first time in several years, both our boys and girls basketball teams made it to the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section (CIF-SS) playoffs and also placed first and second in the Big VIII League, respectively. With new coaching staffs and players, the teams left a great impression in their final year in the Big VIII League. In the past few years, the teams had not been as hot as was expected from a school with a long and rich basketball tradition. With Coach Michael Bartee returning to lead the boys team, there were great expectations for the team, something which they lived up to with their recent success. The Huskies came out on top by winning the Big VIII Championship for the 2011-2012 season. As the CIF playoffs came around, the boys’ first opponent was the Simi Valley Pioneers whom the Huskies beat with a 68-44 victory. The next game was against Temecula Valley High School. In this game the Huskies topped the Golden Bears with a final score of 66-44. Finally, after all their victories, the boys met their match as they traveled to Sunny Hills and played the Lancers in what ended up being their last game in CIF. The final score was 75-77. The boys put in their best effort but in the end they were unsuccessful. “After the game I was angry. Just thinking about all the hard work we had that still led to a loss made me upset but it also made me realize that this was the last time I would be on the court with these guys,” said forward Aaron Peck after the loss to Sunny Hills. Although the boys team was not able to go all the way through CIF this year, the girls team stepped up their game. The girls team placed second in
Mariel Mendoza signs with Berkeley
Marlyn Sanchez / The North Star
Forward Akilah Martin sets up the offense against Lynwood guard Jazmine Johnson in the CIF-SS championship game. league behind the Corona Santiago Sharks. As they started their long journey into CIF play their first opponent was the Yucaipa Thunderbirds. North dominated the entire game and came out with a win of 78-32. After this game, guard Simone DeCoud was named Player of the Week by MaxPreps.com for receiving her first double-double in points and assists, meaning that she scored in double figures in both categories.
The next round was against the Cypress Centurions where North once again showed why they are so highly ranked. The team came out with another blowout win of 74-27. The quarter final game was at the home of the Thousand Oaks Lancers where once again the Huskies walked away with a win of 63-48, a win which took them into the semifinals against the Cougars of Ventura. This victory for the Lady Huskies
brought excitement all around campus after the 65-49 win. The Lady Huskies then traveled to the Anaheim Convention Center for the CIF-SS championship game against the Lynwood Lady Knights of Los Angeles. North trailed almost the entire game until the fourth quarter when they closed the game to a two-point deficit after guard Kamille Diaz and forward Akilah Martin dropped two three-point
shots driving the North crowd crazy with excitement. The Huskies’ dreams fell short as the game ended in a loss of 55-66 to the Lady Knights. This loss was not the end for the girls who took everyone’s doubts and showed them what they are capable of doing. The Lady Huskies played in the CIF State Championship game on March 23, after winning the CIF Southern California Regional Championship.
Boys tennis wins big at REV to close out first half of season
Marlyn Sanchez / The North Star
Freshman Andrew Xu returns a ball as he practices after school for an upcoming game. Tyler Davis EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
I
n the midst of an unpredictable season for the Big VII League and the Huskies themselves, the boys tennis team made a powerful statement about how they intend to finish it out, decidedly defeating Redlands East Valley (REV) High School on March 26 with
a score of 17-1. From the beginning, the Huskies demonstrated their superiority on the court, taking an immediate lead of 6-0 at the end of the first round before extending this lead to 12-0 by the end of the second round. A few members of the junior varsity (JV) team were rewarded for the varsity team’s success by being subbed in following the dominance of the first round. The JV team continued this
trend, winning all but one match at the conclusion of the match. Because the match against REV was not a league match, several changes were instituted to the varsity lineup prior to the beginning of the match, as a way to try out new combinations at a time when winning was not crucial as in a typical league match. One such change was the inclusion into the varsity lineup of doubles team
Jonathan Jones and Aaron Tagaloa, a team that won all three of their matches throughout the day. Jones believes that the victory will certainly have its benefits for the rest of the season. “[Our win against REV] really gave us a lot of confidence. It showed that we are a good team as a whole when we work together, which will serve us well for the future,” said Jones. This is certainly a sentiment shared by the whole team as the second half of the season approaches with several key league games that have the capability of determining Big VIII League playoff scenarios. Varsity doubles player Joshua Kang believes that the hard work and amount of time spent on the court by the tennis team will pay off in their upcoming matches. “As we practice more and more after school and continue to play more and more teams, I think we will be better prepared for the big matches coming up soon,” said Kang. The tennis team has been anything but unsuccessful throughout the first half of the season. With an overall record of 6-3, it would appear that the team has had a positive first half of the Jesse B.
Troy R.
Steven L.
Timothy Lin
6-0
6-0
Leon Zhou James Ding
5-7 6-4
SINGLES
season, a statement that would not be incorrect in itself. However, with a young and talented lineup, expectations for the beginning of the season were very high and the Huskies have had a few tough losses where it came to just a few matches separating victor and the loser. Boys tennis coach Nick Mateljan believes that the team suffers from a lack of consistency, something that he feels has improved as of late and that he hopes will continue to do so as the season continues. “We have been gaining consistency which when you have a young team, sometimes that is the case. We are gaining experience and hopefully in the second half of the season, we can gain more consistency and win a few more of those close games,” said Mateljan. However, as the practice and training continues, the Huskies will continue to draw the positives from their successful first half and their decisive victory at REV. “I think it reflects on how good our team is [when it comes down to it] and the potential that we have to do better for the second half of the season,” said varsity doubles player Maximillian Cotterill.
DOUBLES
Malgo/ Knight
Jex/ Chea
Hou/ Mikial
6-0
Lee/ Gan
6-1
6-1
6-3
6-0
6-1
Gyi/ Kang
6-0
6-0
6-0
6-2
6-0
Jones/ Tagaloa
7-5
6-0
6-2
SPRING BREAK Baseball vs. Santiago 3:15 p.m. Golf @ King 3:15 p.m. Boys Tennis vs. Santiago 3:15 p.m. Coed Track vs. Santiago 3:15 p.m. Coed Swim @ King 3:15 p.m. Softball vs. Santiago
Boys Golf @ Santiago Boys Tennis vs. Redlands 3:15 p.m.
Boys Tennis @ Poly 3:15 p.m.
Golf vs. Norco 3:15 p.m.
Boys Tennis @ Norco 3:15 p.m. Softball @ Norco 3:15 p.m. Baseball @ Norco 7 p.m.
Golf vs. Centennial 3:15 p.m.
Baseball vs. Centennial 3:15 p.m. Boys Tennis vs. Centennial 3:15 p.m. Softball vs. Centennial 3:15 p.m. Coed Swim vs. Centennial 3:15 p.m. Coed Track vs. Centennial 3:15 p.m.
Golf vs. Corona 3:15 p.m. Coed Track vs. King 3:15 p.m. Coed Swim @ King 4 p.m.
Baseball vs. King 3:15 p.m. Boys Tennis vs. King 3:15 p.m. Softball vs. King 3:15 p.m.
Baseball vs. Corona 3:15 p.m. Boys Tennis vs. Corona 3:15 p.m. Softball vs. Corona 4:30 p.m.
Baseball @ Poly 3:15 p.m. Softball @ Poly 3:15 p.m.
Softball @ Canyon Springs 10 a.m. Softball @ Canyon Springs 12 p.m.
After making great progress on both the track and the cross-country teams here at North, senior Mariel Mendoza earned herself a full ride scholarship to the University of California, Berkeley. Mendoza signed her National Letter of Intent to Berkeley two weeks ago. During her four years of running at North, Mendoza has broken many individual records. By the end of her sophomore year, she was named the second fastest sophomore in the state of California as well as the 31st fastest girl in the country. Also in tenth grade, Mendoza became the new holder of the school records for the 3200 and 1600 meter races. In September of 2010, Mendoza was named one of ESPNLA.com Inland Empire Athletes of the Week as she finished second in the Woodbridge Invitational team race in Irvine just 12 seconds behind the first place runner with a time of 16 minutes and 55 seconds in the three-mile race. This year Mendoza went to the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) state individuals championship and finished second. Also this year she was invited to the Nike Cross Nationals which is an invitational race where only 50 individual runners and 22 teams in the nation get the chance to go. In this race, she finished 54th out of 200. In the CIF state individual championship race, she finished second behind the winner of the of the Nike Cross Nationals.
Coach Bartee Four years ago, Coach Michael Bartee announced his retirement from the boys basketball program at North. Before his retirement, Bartee had already earned a spot in the Riverside Sports Hall of Fame. In addition, Bartee had won 16 league titles and made it to the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Southern Section finals a total of seven times. Of those seven times, the team won twice in 1984 and 1993. This year, he came out of retirement to head the team again. During his first season back, Bartee was able to lead the team to the playoffs for the second consecutive year. Due to these accomplishments, Bartee earned the recognition of Big VIII League Coach of the Year. With Bartee in control, the team received the number three seed in the playoffs in Division 2AA. The highlight of the season for the boys team was that they won their last four games to earn their first league championship since 2001. Coincidentally, Bartee was also the coach when the team last won first place in league. Bartee has coached 29 varsity seasons and he has 575 wins under his belt. Although the team lost in the third round of playoffs, he will be back next year to lead them to achieve more.
Aaron Peck The boys basketball team’s success this season came in part from the help of senior Aaron Peck, the football team’s star wide receiver and basketball team’s starting power forward who earned the title of Big VIII Player of the Year. Peck signed his National Letter of Intent to Fresno State University to play football earlier this year. This however did not stop Peck from enjoying his senior year on the varsity basketball team. Peck was always a crowd pleaser with his amazing layups as well as everyone’s favorite dunks that always brought the fans to their feet. He led the team to an overall record of 23-6, compared to last season’s record of 19-11. This season Peck averaged 15.2 points per game along with 5.4 rebounds. He was also averaging about 2.1 steals, which helped him land the prestigious award. This season the boys basketball team was named the Big VIII League champions which landed them a spot in the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section (CIF-SS) playoffs where they finally fell to Sunny Hills in their third round of the CIF-SS tournament when they lost by a mere 2 points. In this game Peck scored 23 points that helped to keep the boys in the competition. Although the team couldn’t always keep it together, Peck made sure that he was always doing his best with 440 total points this season.