Prep girls’ basketball: Audrey Harris’ big day; Kira Sadler becomes VDL all-time leader
Audrey Harris from Faith Christian High School is the best basketball player in the area you probably haven’t heard of, yet.
Harris is a junior at the small private high school at Yuba City and has been on a tear this season. She is averaging over 45 points and nearly 15 rebounds and five steals a game. She leads the country in scoring average.
During the shortened spring season, Harris was named The Sacramento Bee Smallest School Player of the Year for her efforts in six games. What’s different about this season is her dad, Geoff, is the head coach of Faith Christian. He was an assistant coach when she was a freshman.
“It’s pretty crazy,” Geoff Harris said. “I haven’t seen a lot of stat lines like that. … I’m starting to figure out it’s pretty exceptional and it’s out of the ordinary what’s been going on this season. She’s a great kid and is super determined. She plays in flow and kinda blacks out and plays in flow.”
Of course, coaching your kid isn’t the easiest thing to do.
“It’s quite a balance. I’m just happy we have a relationship,” Geoff Harris said. “She is really driven and self-motivated. I’m there to support her when I can but I’m not the dad to put a basketball in her hand. To be able to coach her for a couple of years and still have a good relationship with her is pretty special.”
Harris has scored 50 points or more in three games this season, including a career-high 66 points against Valley Christian last week. Harris also had a career-high 25 rebounds on Jan. 28 despite being only a 5-foot-8 guard. Geoff Harris says she’s putting up these numbers despite being double-teamed almost every game.
“Pretty much (happens) every game now,” Harris said. “Her freshman year, no one had really heard of her. By the time we played this year, every game (she gets double-teamed) and coaches have different strategies against us. There is super heavy pressure on her.”
As far as recruiting goes, Geoff says there hasn’t been much interest by colleges.
“Absolutely nothing,” Harris said. “We haven’t been super proactive in reaching out. We go to some of the showcase (AAU) tournaments and all that. There really has been no interest to this point.”
Harris played AAU basketball last summer with Tom Tran’s NorCal Dynasty team. On Harris’ team was Jocelyn Medina of Pierce, who scored 61 points earlier this season. Harris and Medina rank first and second respectively in high school scoring in the country.
Sadler breaks Vista del Lago scoring record
The Sacramento Bee’s defending Medium School Player of the Year continues to break school records.
Vista del Lago senior Kira Sadler became the school’s all-time leading scorer last week against Del Campo. Sadler passed Mia Perez, who led Vista del Lago in career scoring with 1,143 points.
She became the fourth player in Vista del Lago history to break the 1,000-point mark in December. Caprina Pipion and Lindsey Moody are the others.
Sadler is averaging 15.9 points per game and has helped Vista del Lago reach its highest ranking in school history.
Laguna Creek gets revenge over McClatchy
When McClatchy and Laguna Creek faced off for the first time on Jan. 14, McClatchy recorded a blowout win.
Last Friday, Laguna Creek returned the favor with a 69-45 win over its Metro League rival. Zoe Tillery had a game-high 29 points and Ahrray Young added 20. The Cardinals have won 10 in a row since the loss.
Laguna Creek and McClatchy both head into the final week of league play with only one loss. Because the Metro is a Division l league, the winner will automatically make the Division l playoff bracket. McClatchy has a Division l enrollment, but Laguna Creek doesn’t.
Vanden knocks off Antelope
Vanden moved up to No. 5 in the rankings this week after beating Antelope 54-39 in a non-league game.
Alyssa Jackson had a game-high 24 points in the win over Antelope. Kiari Roberts had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds and Calonni Holloway and Jiana Creswell added eight and nine points, respectively.
The Vikings have won eight in a row and are in the driver’s seat to win the Monticello Empire League title again. They close out the regular season with Lincoln of Stockton, Wood and Rodriguez.
The Bee’s Top 20
Girls’ basketball
Records entering Monday
1. Folsom 22-1
2. Oak Ridge 17-5
3. Laguna Creek 19-2
4. Del Oro 19-6
5. Vanden 18-3
6. Vista del Lago 20-2
7. McClatchy 14-5
8. Christian Brothers 20-3
9. Colfax 20-4
10. Lincoln 22-2
11. Antelope 15-5
12. Whitney 14-12
13. Granite Bay 15-9
14. Cosumnes Oaks 18-6
15. Rocklin 10-11
16. Monterey Trail 15-8
17. Grant 17-8
18. Dixon 20-3
19. Marysville 18-5
20. Bear River 19-1
Bubble teams (in alphabetical order): El Dorado (19-7), Inderkum (13-12), Rio Linda (14-6), Pioneer (16-8), Placer (13-9), St. Francis (12-10), Valley Christian (17-1), West Campus (5-0), Wood (12-8), Yuba City (15-5).
This story was originally published February 8, 2022 at 5:00 AM.