Rio Linda grinds out CIF NorCal win over Marysville. McClatchy wins Open game, Folsom is out
The natural rivalries might be far gone from Rio Linda High School.
Most of its natural neighboring schools have either outgrown the competition or moved into different leagues. No more schools like Inderkum, Foothill or Center on the league slate. That has turned the intense feelings from league battles from the old Tri-County Conference days into a distant memory.
But there was plenty of feeling on Thursday night inside the Rio Linda gym for a CIF Northern California Division IV girls quarterfinal between the third-seeded Knights and the sixth-seeded Marysville Indians.
A gritty, low-scoring affair went down to the wire with Rio Linda hitting just enough shots and making just enough defensive stops in the fourth quarter and coming away with a 34-33 win.
“We worked our butts off this whole season, we’ve had a great run,” said junior Izzy Hernandez, who hit two big 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. “I feel like it really showed on the floor tonight, and we did what we had to do.”
With 90 seconds to play, Hernandez hit a 3 in front of her own bench and then assisted on a layup from Kyrri Mitchell that put the Knights up by three with 18 seconds left. Marysville’s Alexis Collins cleaned up an offensive miss for a putback that closed the gap to one with seven seconds left.
Marysville had a chance to win as senior Demi Boykin stole the ensuing inbounds pass out of a timeout, but her 3-point attempt bounced off iron and Mitchell won the scrum for the loose ball as time expired.
Emotions ran high for everyone from Rio Linda, which now advances to the NorCal semifinals on Saturday at second-seeded Half Moon Bay, which took down West Campus of the Sacramento City Unified School District on Thursday.
“Our focus this year wasn’t league. We wanted to go past league and do something special,” Rio Linda coach Jerry Huffhines said. “It just gets higher and higher, emotions and stress, and they’ve never been this far before, so it’s a good feeling for them. That’s why they’re emotional. They’ve never been here before.”
Huffhines, a 1985 Rio Linda graduate who played for 400-plus game winner Terry Ray, also joined the 400-win club with Tuesday’s NorCal-opening victory against Fortuna. What was originally supposed to be a one- or two-year stint coaching girls basketball at Rio Linda has turned into 26 years, including a CIF Sac-Joaquin Section championship with his daughter, Brandy, on the team in 2016.
Despite losing in the section semifinals this season to Colfax, Huffhines says this year’s group is one to remember.
“They’ve got a lot of heart,” Huffhines said. “I still don’t think they’ve peaked. I really don’t. I think they’ve got room to grow, and I’m hoping it shows up here at the end.”
Hernandez led Rio Linda (29-4) with 9 points; junior LaRay Mitchell had 8; and Kyrri Mitchell, Joy Talilefiti and Savannah Grant each had five for the Knights.
Junior Abigail Pietz led Marysville (24-9) with 14 points, including four 3-pointers. Freshman Jorden Hill scored 5, and the Indians got 4 apiece from Collins, Demi Boykin and Lisette Partida.
McClatchy downs the Dons
The newly minted section Division I champion McClatchy Lions had to travel for their first-round NorCal game on Wednesday night.
As a No. 5 seed in the NorCal Open Division, McClatchy visited play fourth-seeded Acalanes of Lafayette, a team that beat the Lions, 74-67, on Feb. 1. On Wednesday, McClatchy earned its first-ever Open Division win by using a 13-0 run in the fourth quarter to distance itself from the Dons for a 57-47 win.
The Lions advance to the regional Open semifinal, set for Saturday night at NorCal top seed Archbishop Mitty, a three-time defending NorCal champion.
“Our defensive intensity picked up,” McClatchy coach Jeff Ota said. “We’re definitely the underdogs (against Mitty), but we just have to keep playing defense and see where it takes us.”
Savy Hill’s only 3 points of the night on a corner triple sparked the fourth-quarter run for McClatchy. Nina Cain led the Lions with 17, while Norret Lewis added 14 and Breyana Kimmons had 10.
McClatchy (25-6) on Saturday plays at top-seeded Mitty of San Jose in a semifinal. Mitty has won more than 800 games under prep Hall of Fame coach Sue Phillips, who also has 24 Central Coast Section and 16 NorCal banners to her credit.
Top-seeded Folsom falls
Folsom, the top-ranked team by The Bee for the entire season, was taken down at home, 84-74, in double-overtime by San Joaquin Memorial of Fresno in a first-round 1-16 upset on Tuesday night.
Despite losing to McClatchy in the section Division I final last week at Golden 1 Center, the Bulldogs earned the top seed in the D-I NorCal bracket. Folsom led by six with 25 seconds left in the first overtime, but the Panthers’ Sienna Evans and Alexa Perryman hit back-to-back 3-pointers to force double-OT, in which San Joaquin Memorial outscored Folsom 11-1.
Folsom was without two starters in Dixie McLanahan, who suffered an ACL injury before the section playoffs, and Ava Rawlins, who had a sprained knee after the section finals.
“It was true March Madness,” Folsom head coach Lynn Wolking said via text message. “I’m just really sad for our team. They deserved a lot better, but you can’t control injuries. Just difficult to absorb.”
Sophia Mindermann led the Bulldogs with 30 points while sophomore Avery Masters added 14. Folsom finishes at 26-5, matching its win total from each of the past three seasons. The senior quintet of Rawlins, McLanahan, Mindermann, Aryn Bright and Jada Tupou bows out with a four-year varsity record of 104-18.
Section champs eliminated
The only team — boys or girls — from the Sacramento region to reach a state championship final in each of the past two seasons, the Colfax Falcons, had their magnificent run come to an end on Thursday with a 53-51 home loss to sixth-seeded Salesian College Prep of Richmond.
Naturally a Division V or VI school based on enrollment, the Falcons have climbed the ranks due to their consistent postseason success, which includes three straight Sac-Joaquin Section championships. As the No. 3 seed in D-II, Colfax beat Clovis East on Tuesday, 64-37, before Thursday’s elimination.
The senior trio of Juliette James, Kaia Diederichs and Laurlyn Massick end their four-year varsity careers with a total of 121 wins.
Liberty Ranch of Galt, which won its first section championship in program history last week, extended its winning streak to 29 games after Tuesday’s 41-37 D-IV win over Colusa. But the Hawks were halted on Thursday by No. 9 seed Lowell of San Francisco to finish their best season in program history at 30-3.
The Hawks’ last loss was in their fourth game of the season against Sierra of Manteca on Dec. 3.
Small schools still alive
The Sac-Joaquin Section’s leading scorer, Lauren Harris had 16 points in the first quarter, 24 in the first half and 35 total with seven 3-pointers to lead second-seeded Faith Christian of Yuba City to a 73-49 win over No. 7 Round Valley in D-VI play. Presley Berry added 24 for the Lions to set up a Saturday semifinal against No. 3 Weed.
As the two-seed, Faith Christian is the highest remaining seed in D-VI. The winner plays for a NorCal championship on Tuesday, as there are no State championships at the D-VI level.
After falling in the section finals at Golden 1 Center, Woodland Christian took its first steps toward getting back to the NBA arena with a 54-40 win over Fort Bragg on Tuesday and a 43-33 win over Trinity of Weaverville on Thursday.
The second-seeded Cardinals will host No. 3 Head-Royce of Oakland on Saturday in the D-V semis.
CIF NorCal girls basketball tournament
OPEN DIVISION
McClatchy 57, Acalanes 47
San Ramon Valley 56, Pinewood 42
Saturday semifinals
No. 5 McClatchy at No. 1 Mitty
No. 3 San Ramon Valley at No. 2 Clovis West
DIVISION I
Piedmont 62, Memorial 60
St. Mary’s 56, Priory 51
Carondelet 54, Bishop O’Dowd 37
Cardinal Newman 62, Clovis 61
Saturday semifinals
No. 9 Piedmont at No. 4 St. Mary’s
No. 7 Cardinal Newman at No. 3 Carodelet
DIVISION II
Caruthers 66, Sacred Heart 64
California 68, Redwood 60
Salesian 53, Colfax 51
Sierra Pacific 74, Atwater 63
Saturday semifinals
DIVISION III
Immanuel 78, Chico 37
Justin-Siena 64, Menlo-Atherton 36
Marin Catholic 46, Menlo School 36
Moreau Catholic 42, Shasta 37
Saturday semifinals
No. 4 Justin-Siena at No. 1 Immanuel
No. 7 Moreau Catholic at No. 3 Marin Catholic
DIVISION IV
Lowell 65, Liberty Ranch 54
Castilleja 44, Mills 41
Rio Linda 34, Marysville 33
Half Moon Bay 52, West Campus 47
Saturday semifinals
No. 13 Castilleja at No. 9 Lowell
No. 3 Rio Linda at No. 2 Half Moon Bay
DIVISION V
Washington 51, Summit Shasta 47
Encinal 67, Orland 32
Head-Royce 45, Durham 38
Woodland Christian 43, Trinity 33
Saturday semifinals
No. 9 Washington at No. 4 Encinal
No. 3 Head-Royce at No. 2 Woodland Christian
This story was originally published March 6, 2025 at 10:40 PM.