No. 16 McClatchy stuns No. 1 seed in Northern California championships; late 3 lifts Jesuit
The McClatchy Lions took exception to their seeding and a four-hour, round-trip trek to the South Bay, and then did something about it Tuesday night.
They won.
McClatchy, ranked second all season by The Sacramento Bee but seeded 16th in the CIF Northern California regional Division I girls basketball championships, made the trip back from Los Altos Hills of Santa Clara County worth the effort. Nina Cain’s inside bucket with 6.4 seconds remaining was the difference as top-seeded Pinewood missed a shot defended by Cain at the buzzer, allowing the Lions to escape with a 66-64 victory.
McClatchy coaches and administrators said after the CIF released regional championship brackets Sunday afternoon that their program’s body of work, including state ranking, strength of schedule and 24-6 record, warranted a much higher seed.
Cain, a junior forward and a national recruit, led the Lions with eight of her 18 points coming in the fourth quarter. McClatchy moved to 8-1 on the road this season, advancing to Thursday’s quarterfinal round at No. 8-seeded Whitney, which defeated No. 9 Piedmont 51-41 on Tuesday.
McClatchy guard Norret Lewis had 20 points, seven in the fourth quarter. She and Cain have led McClatchy all season in scoring.
In other D-I girls games:
Oak Ridge 47, Priory 35: Jessica Crannell scored 11 points and Leah Harris and Liv Yergensen each had 10 to lift the No. 3-seeded Trojans past the No. 14 Panthers of Portola Valley in D-I action in El Dorado Hills.
Oak Ridge (25-7) will host Riordan of San Francisco on Thursday after the Crusaders eliminated Acalanes of Lafayette 64-55.
Whitney 51, Piedmont 41: A year after losing a heartbreaker in a NorCal opener, the No. 8-seeded Wildcats enjoyed this moment, their first NorCal victory in program history, and now they get to host another.
Harper Peterson scored 20 points, Sammy Schuler had 13 and Tylie Kitchen 12 for Whitney (22-9). Peterson, the 6-foot-3 Stanford-bound forward, also had six rebounds, six blocked shots, five assists and five steals.
Division III
Colfax 67, St. Patrick/St. VIncent 66 (OT): Sophomore guard/forward Maddie Sigrist hit a 3-pointer with under a minute to go and the Falcons had two defensive stops down the stretch to lift the defending NorCal champions, who are seeded fourth in this tournament. Sigrist scored 20 points, 16 in the second half and overtime.
Junior guard Kaia Diederichs scored 20 and sophomore post Juliette James had 14 for the Falcons, who moved to 12-1 at home and 31-2 overall with their ninth consecutive victory.
Colfax will host Redwood of Larkspur of Marin County on Thursday. Larkspur eliminated Evergreen Valley of San Jose 52-48.
Boys
Division I
Monterey Trail 70, University 68: Brandon Gibson scored 23 points and fellow senior leader Kentrell Kelly 20 as the 10th-seeded Mustangs held off the Red Devils of San Francisco at famed Kezar Pavilion.
It’s the first NorCal victory in the 20-year history of the Elk Grove Unified School District program. Monterey Trail entered the playoffs as The Bee’s No. 1-ranked team but lost a Sac-Joaquin Section D-I quarterfinal to Lincoln of Stockton 93-88 in double overtime. Monterey Trail (26-4) will visit San Ramon Valley of Danville on Thursday after the Wolves eliminated Vanden 67-64.
Monterey Trail is the last section team standing in D-I. Rocklin lost to St. Ignatius 67-51 in San Francisco, Inderkum fell 58-53 to Granada in Livermore, Lincoln dropped a 63-61 game to Serra in San Mateo and Vanden lost to San Ramon Valley.
Division II
Jesuit 54, Benicia 53: As time was running out, Cole Epperson hit a corner 3-pointer off a top-of-the-key pass from Kevin Haupt to lift the No. 7-seeded Marauders past the No. 10 Panthers, delighting the home crowd.
Epperson, a 6-foot-8 senior forward, had 18 points. Haupt, a 5-10 senior guard and the team’s leading scorer this season, had 12.
“Unreal!” Jesuit coach Tim Kelly wrote in a text to The Bee. “(Epperson and Haupt) were both huge down the stretch,”
Jesuit (23-8) will visit No. 2 Oakland Tech (26-5) on Thursday. Oakland Tech beat Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep 71-43 for the program’s 10th consecutive victory, improving to 11-0 at home.
Del Oro 60, Half Moon Bay 55: Senior guard Caden Pinnick scored 20 points, junior forward Reid Brear had 17 and senior center Jake Williams 11 for the No. 6 Golden Eagles against the No. 11 Cougars of San Mateo County.
Del Oro (25-8) will host No. 14 Menlo-Atherton, which held off No. 3 Sacramento 70-64. Menlo-Atherton led by 19 early in the fourth quarter before Sir Marius Jones led the rally, scoring 12 consecutive points. The Dragons cut the deficit to four, but they could not get any closer. Jones had 32 points and Shobal Barksdale 14 for Sacramento.
Division IV
Natomas 62, Menlo School 61: Darius Hemmingway entered the week shooting 41% at the free-throw line, but the senior guard made two with six seconds remaining to lift the second-seeded Nighthawks past the Knights of Atherton.
Hemmingway led his team with 14 points. Aaeron Wallace had 11 and Manno Jenkins 10 for Natomas (24-9), which will host No. 10 Christopher of Gilroy on Thursday. Christopher was a 60-55 winner over Weed.
Union Mine 66, University Prep 61 - Five Diamondbacks scored in double figures to lift the El Dorado County school to their first NorCal victory since the school opened in 1999 in winning for the 13th time in the last 14 outings in ousting the Panthers of Redding.
Isaac Zmerzlikar and Hayden Otte both scored 14 points, Ethan Gines and Damion Schade had 13 each and Nate Sweet 10 for Union Mine (29-3), which next hosts Foothill of Palo Cedro of Shasta County.
▪ For complete scores and brackets and tickets, visit the CIF state website.
Girls
Division I
McClatchy 66, Pinewood 64
Whitney 53, Piedmont 41
Sacred Heart 61, Salesian 41
Carondelet 77, Los Gatos 39
Oak Ridge 47, Priory 35
Riordan 64, Acalanes 55
St. Ignatius 45, Marin Catholic 41
Bishop O’Dowd 76, Saint Francis 27
Division II
Branham 53, Chico 47
Maria Carrillo 59, Monta Vista 52
Redwood 52, Evergreen Valley 48
Colfax 67, St. Patrick/St. Vincent 66
Pleasant Valley 56, Vista del Lago 49
Antelope 82, Buchanan 68
Oakland Tech 65, California 53
Vanden 52, San Domenico 44
Division III
University 67, Northgate 28
Atwater 74, Pioneer 48
Mills 56, Clovis East 53
Cornerstone 69, Clovis 59
Caruthers 85, Christopher 52
Heritage 54, Grant-Sacramento 40
Memorial 67, Manteca 37
Central 61, Justin-Siena 51
Division IV
St. Bernard’s 55, West Campus 39
Lincoln-San Francisco 56, Lincoln 48
Alisal 56, Colusa 28
Foothill 68, Menlo School 64
Notre Dame 47, Escalon 40
Riverbank 70, University Prep 52
Arcata 51, Bear River 48
Division V
Woodland Christian 41, Modoc 30
Valley Christian-Roseville 80, Summit Shasta 70
Oakland 58, Half Moon Bay 50
Lowell 52, Wood 48
Trinity 40, Winters 30
Crystal Springs 75, Quincy 22
Lynbrook 68, Ripon Christian 55
Boys
Division I
Clovis West 79, Dublin 57
Serra 63, Lincoln-Stockton 61
St. Ignatius 67, Rocklin 51
Granada 58, Inderkum 53
Mitty 75, Dougherty Valley 54
Clayton Valley Charter 63, Sacred Heart 50
Monterey Trail 70, University 68
San Ramon Valley 67, Vanden 64
Division II
Clovis East 78, Branham 69
Oakland 70, Capital Christian 64 (3 OT)
Bellarmine 49, Montgomery 41
Bishop O’Dowd 76, Los Gatos 49
Menlo-Atherton 70, Sacramento 64
Del Oro 60, Half Moon Bay 55
Jesuit 54, Benicia 53
Oakland Tech 71, Sacred Heart 43
Division III
Santa Cruz 61, Head-Royce 47
West Park-Roseville 63, Enterprise 49
Carmel 76, Venture Academy 58
Ygnacio Valley 56, Pleasant Valley 50
Valley Christian-San Jose 72, Piedmont 43
Bullard 53, Central Catholic 43
Memorial 66, Christian Brothers 59
Justin-Siena 59, Ripon Christian 44
Division IV
Santa Teresa 79, Kerman 76
Palo Alto 60, Ripon 58
Foothill 45, Urban 43
Union Mine 66, University Prep 61
Monterey 67, Sierra 51
Lincoln-San Francisco 53, Gridley 50
Christopher 60, Weed 55
Natomas 62, Menlo School 61
Division V
Mt. Shasta 60, McKinleyville 49
Summit Shasta 61, Durham 40
International 50, Bradshaw Christian 49
Oakwood 69, Caruthers 53
Colusa 56, Fortune-Sacramento 30
Futures-Sacramento 78, Orland 65
San Domenico 57, Lowell 38
▪ Open Division and Division VI NorCal openers will be played Wednesday.
This story was originally published February 28, 2024 at 5:00 AM.