Prep girls’ basketball: Valley Christian keeps growing, rolls to section championship
Valley Christian Academy head coach Kim Contreras said the run to this year’s Sac-Joaquin Section championship game was unexpected.
From the beginning of the preseason, Contreras described her Roseville-based Lions as a “hodge-podge” of a bunch.
“In the preseason, I got girls who have never dribbled, some who’ve only played a few years to girls who’ve played in championship games,” Contreras said. “The consistency is that they all want to learn, they’re all sponges, and they use what we go over in practice in the game. That’s their biggest asset. They take it in and they use it.”
When Friday morning rolled around, it didn’t matter the experience. Everyone on court for VCA contributed and then celebrated the program’s fifth section championship with a 77-57 win over Sacramento Metro Athletic League rival Sacramento Adventist Academy at Golden 1 Center.
Whatever nervousness there might have been entering the cavernous NBA arena, the Lions showed no signs of it. Especially sophomore Mariah Contreras, the coach’s daughter who calmly drilled a 3-pointer on the opening possession and just kept shooting. She finished with seven 3-pointers en route to a game-high 28 points to help hoist the newest blue banner for VCA.
“I was a little bit nervous at first,” Mariah Contreras said. “But then I realized that God would be with me throughout (the game). So, I just shook it all off and played my best.”
Mariah’s older sister, and current VCA assistant Angelina Contreras, had big championship performances in three of the previous section title runs for the Lions. Friday was the little sister’s time to shine on the big stage.
“She’s watched her sister do it, so to her, it feels like she’s been here before,” Kim Contreras said.
Mariah Contreras averaged 10.3 points in the regular season, but since the playoffs began, she’s raised her game and her production to better than 25.0 points per game. She had 33 in the semifinals against Faith Christian.
VCA sisters Gracie and Christelle Williams each had double-doubles for the Lions. Gracie had 15 points and 10 rebounds while Christelle had 16 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists and seven steals. This marks the second section championship in three tries for Gracie Williams.
“I definitely felt more prepared,” Gracie Williams said. “I knew what I was getting into and I felt less nervous. I felt more ready for this game than I was my freshman or sophomore year.”
The Williams family adopted Christelle from Haiti when she was 4 years old, shortly after the country’s devastating 2010 earthquake that killed or displaced hundreds of thousands of people. Twelve years later, the Williams sisters are the top two scorers and now share a championship for the 21-2 Lions.
“The fact that COVID took away the whole (2020-21) season, we’ve gone through this season feeling blessed that they got to play it out and get the chance to go (to Golden 1 Center),” Kim Contreras said. “They don’t take it lightly and don’t take it for granted.”
Sac Adventist’s lone senior, Gwen Fayard, tried willing her team back into the game in the fourth quarter. Fayard scored 12 of her team-high 21 points in the final period. She also had six rebounds and six assists. Kayelynn Welty (14 points, 14 rebounds) and Amy Wong (12 points, 16 rebounds) each collected double-doubles for the Capitals (25-6) of Carmichael.
Sac Adventist split the two regular season meetings with VCA and earned a share of the SMAL title. The Capitals’ Feb. 7 overtime win over the Lions was the school’s first win over VCA in 10 years. It had been 18 straight losses before that elusive win.
“That was a big confidence booster for our girls,” Sac Adventist coach Kenny Johnston said. “Coach Contreras is great at taking teams she’s given and molding them into an effective team that competes every day. They’re dedicated to their craft, and we know it’s always gonna be a challenge when we play them.”
Both teams qualify for the CIF NorCal tournament, which begins next week. Division VI teams only play for a NorCal title.