Top 20 girls basketball: Antelope Titans stand tall with win vs. McClatchy

A two-time CIF Sac-Joaquin Section champion in high school girls basketball, the Antelope Titans are again making noise near the forefront of the regional rankings.

The program’s founding head coach, Sean Chambers, doubles as the head coach of Far Eastern University, a top Division I collegiate program in the Philippines, where he was a professional basketball star, and has only been with the Titans since Dec. 10. By that time, Antelope had already launched a 4-0 start to the season under the watch of assistant coach MJ Masys.

The Titans have since gone 9-1 with Chambers back home, including a Metro League-opening bounce-back win on last Friday against McClatchy, the reigning Division I section champion and the team that handed Antelope its lone loss of the season. The 61-52 win at McClatchy offered a glimpse of what could be for the Titans.

Although, Chambers’ young squad started strong in the first half, but failed to dominate the game for all four quarters, a facet of the team that Chambers expects to be a focal point before the postseason begins next month.

“We’re very talented, but we’re young. We had young moments at the end of the (McClatchy) game,” Chambers said. “We’re about 70% where I want us to be. In about another month, we’ll be clicking on all cylinders.”

The Titans have only nine players on the roster, and it’s all hands on deck. Kamaria Charlo leads a trio of seniors along with Izzi Siegler and Amira Davenport. Chambers says Charlo is the emotional leader that displays grit and toughness, especially with nine points in her return game in a protective face mask after suffering a broken nose. She averages 14.5 points per game and provides leadership from the point guard position.

But the rest of the team’s scoring leaders are a well-rounded crop of underclassmen. Sophomore Paradise Manning leads the team at 15.4 points per game with a wide shooting range. Fellow sophomore Londyn Odom is just under 10 points a night and provides a combination of size and athleticism with the ability to rebound and score from anywhere.

Then there are the freshmen. Callia Johnson averages 14.2 points and had a season high 22 against McClatchy. Shaylah Taplin is also in double-figures at 11.4 points a night. Freshman Myelle Blakney and junior Semiyah Brown also play key roles in the Titans’ rotation.

“We’re loaded,” Chambers said. “We’re like, eight or nine deep. We don’t have one star. They can all make a big play.”

More from McClatchy

McClatchy quarterback and 2025 Bee Flag Football Player of the Year Daisy Throckmorton along with The Bee’s Coach of the Year John Avery will participate in the NFL Flag High School Girls Showcase on Feb. 3 at the Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers.

Throckmorton was selected as one of the top 32 players in the country to compete in the showcase event that leads up to the NFL Pro Bowl in Santa Clara. She will suit up under her current high school coach in Avery.

This is the second annual flag football high school girls showcase held during Pro Bowl week by the NFL, which has plans to create a professional flag football league ahead of the 2028 Olympics. After being named The Bee’s Player of the Year, Throckmorton said she had aspirations of representing her country when the sport debuts in the Summer Games in Los Angeles.

“I hold myself to a really high standard,” Throckmorton told The Bee in November. “I feel like I can compete with the best in the nation. My goal is to play in the Olympics at the highest level for flag football.”

Star junior guard sidelined

Small school title contender Sacramento Adventist Academy of Carmichael was dealt a gut punch after losing budding star junior Kyla Friedrich to a hip injury. The team’s leading scorer at just under 20 points a game took a fall during a game against Valley Christian Academy of Roseville on Jan. 8 and may well be done for the season.

Ever the good teammate, Friedrich is still attending Capital games and practices and is acting as an “assistant coach” under head coach Scott Tedmon, jotting down notes and offering input. Sac Adventist is 7-5 entering Tuesday with a 1-2 mark in the Sacramento Metro Athletic League behind senior guard star Gwen Rosich, who is averaging 16.3 points, 10.8 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 8.1 steals per game. She has posted seven triple-doubles over her first 12 games, and she had a career-best 25 points on Monday in a 46-33 win at Adventure Christian of Roseville.

Small-school players top section’s stat leaderboards

Don’t sleep on the girls playing within the lower divisions in the Sac-Joaquin Section. Several of them are pacing the section’s stat leaders as we enter the thick of league play.

Faith Christian of Yuba City senior Lauren Harris led the section in scoring last season, and the Long Beach State commit is topping the charts again at 30 points per game.

Her 89 3-pointers also lead the section while averaging a national best 6.8 per game. If the Lions can make another deep postseason run, she’ll have a chance to break the national single-season record for triples of 194, held by Aaliyah Chavez of Lubbock High School in Texas.

• Senior guard Janet Donkor of Valley Christian of Roseville is second in scoring at 25.9.
• The top rebounder in the section is Khaliah McDonald of Encina in Sacramento. Through her first 15 games, the senior is averaging 20.6 boards for the Bulldogs. She is followed by Rio Vista’s Keniyah Banks, who goes for 17.2 rebounds a night. Her Rams teammate Samiah Holley tops the leaderboard with 10.6 steals per game.
• Gwen Rosich of Sac Adventist is second on the steals-per-game list with 8.1 while leading the section at 6.2 assists. Second on the assists list is Elliott Schwartz of John Adams Academy in El Dorado Hills.
• Sacramento High’s Chrisshaya Haygood entered the week second in blocks per game at 6.9 behind the 7.5 from Matalie Floyd of Tracy’s Kimball High School. Haygood leads the section in total blocks with 110.

The Bee’s Top 20

(Records entering Monday)

1. Christian Brothers (14-2)

2. Antelope (13-1)

3. Del Oro (14-2)

4. Folsom (11-2)

5. Oak Ridge (10-6)

6. Woodcreek (15-5)

7. Cosumnes Oaks (12-4)

8. McClatchy (11-6)

9. Faith Christian (12-1)

10. Placer (17-2)

11. Vanden (10-5)

12. Inderkum (12-6)

13. Sheldon (10-6)

14. Davis (11-6)

15. Monterey Trail (9-5)

16. Grant (10-4)

17. Liberty Ranch (11-4)

18. Elk Grove (13-4)

19. Twelve Bridges (13-5)

20. Colfax (9-7)

Bubble: Granite Bay (10-7); John Adams (14-2); Lincoln (9-7); Nevada Union (13-7); Oakmont (12-4); Sac Adventist (7-5); St. Francis (7-7); Union Mine (10-6); Valley Christian (12-2); West Campus (8-5); Woodland Christian (10-2).

Nick Pecoraro is a longtime area high school sports journalist who has contributed to The Bee since 2021. He is a staff writer for MaxPreps.