St. Mary’s of Stockton gets revenge against Folsom girls; Vanden takes down Del Oro boys
For years, the St. Mary’s Rams won CIF Sac-Joaquin Section championships at a dizzying rate and did not celebrate after the final horn. Players walked over to collect their medals and caps with a stoic approach because this was an expected triumph, routine stuff.
On Wednesday night at Golden 1 Center, the powerhouse program from Stockton held off defending champion Folsom to win Division I honors with a 57-51 effort, and players and coaches raced to midcourt to hug and cheer and high-five.
It’s the 22nd section title for the Rams and ninth in large-school D-I since 2013. The program’s achievements over the decades also include 11 Northern California championships and eight state crowns, making this far and away the greatest girls dynasty in section history for any sport.
The Rams are coached by Alle Moreno, a former Rams star who started at guard for three seasons at Sacramento State from 2010-14 She is in her fourth season as head coach. This is her first section title as head coach.
“My goal has been to get these girls to feel what I felt as a player at St. Mary’s, and they did that far better than me,” Moreno said. “I’m so proud of them.”
Freshman guard Kori Rogers scored 21 points for St. Mary’s. McDonald’s All-American senior guard Jordan Lee had 20 points, seven rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocked shots in looking the part of a Texas Longhorns-bound national recruit.
Senior guard Ella Uriarte had 21 points and four steals for Folsom, which made a late charge, pulling to within 54-50 with 52.3 seconds left, but a flurry of missed shots ended the rally and a 12-game winning streak.
St. Mary’s (25-5) remained unbeaten in section play, extended its winning streak to 14 and heads into next week’s CIF Northern California playoff rounds on a roll.
Folsom (25-5) suffered its first loss in section play. The Bulldogs came in as the top seed, ranked No. 1 by The Bee all of last season and this one. They were ranked seventh in the state by Cal-Hi Sports. St. Mary’s came in seeded second in this tournament and ranked 12th in the state.
Folsom’s Cal-bound senior forward Kamryn Mafua, The Bee’s Player of the Year last season, had 13 rebounds, but she was held to four points on 2-of-14 shooting as the defensive-minded Rams held the Bulldogs to their second-lowest point total of the season. Junior forward Dixie McLanahan had 12 points for Folsom, which outrebounded St. Mary’s 41-39 but had just eight assists while shooting 27%.
All section finalists advance to the CIF Northern California playoffs, which start next week. The CIF will release those brackets on Sunday.
Division I boys
Modesto Christian 68, Lincoln-Stockton 63: The Sacramento area did not have a team in the large-school finals for the first time since 2006 when Tokay of Lodi beat Modesto High, but two Sacramento products helped lead the top-seeded Crusaders to a championship three-peat and their 22nd championship overall spanning different divisions.
Sophomore guard Myles Jones had 17 points. He is second on the team in scoring after playing at Folsom High last season. Leading scorer Gavin Sykes, a junior guard, had 16 points after playing at Capital Christian previously. Senior forward Marcus Washington led all scorers with 21 points and 10 rebounds for Modesto Christian, which will be in the elite Open Division in the CIF NorCal playoffs.
In its first section final since winning it in D-I in 1980, Lincoln was led in scoring by junior guard Donez Lindsey with 18 points. Lincoln (26-6) came in after beating Monterey Trail in the quarterfinals and Rocklin in the semifinals.
Lincoln will be in the NorCal Division I field, which will also include Monterey Trail and Rocklin.
Division II boys
Vanden 64, Del Oro 52: Tyler Thompson made another case as perhaps the top player in the section as the 6-foot-6 senior forward had a game-high 22 points and four steals to power the No. 3-seeded Vikings of Fairfield to their third championship since 2020 and 10th overall. He also had four steals and three blocked shots.
Del Oro, seeded fourth and coming off a semifinal win over No. 1 Jesuit, was led by senior guard Caden Pinnick, who had 18 points. The Golden Eagles were in their first section final since 2009 and last won one in 1998. Del Oro played tight early and never found an outside shooting groove, making 1 of 16 from 3-point range.
▪ Division IV, V and VI championship games will be held Friday at UC Davis and not at Golden 1 Center due to the prep time needed for Saturday’s Madonna concert.
This story was originally published February 21, 2024 at 10:39 PM.