Girls basketball playoffs: McClatchy withstands Folsom, knee scare for star player
Daisy Throckmorton has a black eye and a Band-Aid on her other brow, and she has welts and bruises across her arms and legs.
The senior guard for the McClatchy Lions basketball team is one tough customer to go with skills and a flair for the dramatic, including slick passing and an array of moves. She would have to lose a leg to keep her out of game action.
Throckmorton scored a team-high 16 points to go with 10 rebounds Thursday night against No. 3-seeded Folsom, and she epitomized her team’s spirit and resolve when she checked herself back into the game in the fourth quarter after a scary moment in which she clutched her knee in agony after going down in the lane. Her late free throws, 14 points from junior guard Mikayla Reyes and the support crew doing its job helped the No. 6-seeded Lions down the Bulldogs 58-47 in a CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I quarterfinal contest of regional large-school powerhouse programs.
Folsom won the section D-I blue banner two years ago and McClatchy did so last season in topping Folsom in the finals at Golden 1 Center. The Lions need a semifinal victory Feb. 24 at No. 2-seeded Oak Ridge in El Dorado Hills to land back in the section finals, but that will be no easy task, given Oak Ridge’s formidable outfit under first-year head coach, Briana Dulgar.
McClatchy is hopeful to have a healthy Throckmorton the rest of the way. She was able to walk off the court on her own power after writhing in pain. She expressed joy after the game with her teammates, and then was hit with a bit of sorrow with some hugs and tears in hoping her knee is sound enough to give it a go.
“She’s so tough,” McClatchy coach Jessica Kunisaki said. “She checked herself back in. I thought she was out because that was a scary moment.”
Throckmorton is one of the greatest girls athletes in the 88-year history of the Sacramento City Unified School District school that prides itself on academic and athletic achievement. She was The Sacramento Bee’s 2025 Flag Football Player of the Year who earned national prep honors as a state Player of the Year. She participated in a flag football showcase in the Bay Area as part of Super Bowl week.
Throckmorton at quarterback last fall accounted for 123 touchdowns for a 24-5 McClatchy flag team that won the section Division I crown, and she was a starter on last season’s section-winning basketball team. She is averaging just under 15 points and 8 rebounds this season for the Lions, who are 21-8.
“She subbed herself back in because she’s as tough as they come,” said McClatchy assistant coach Jackie Wada, who consoled Throckmorton after the game, assuring her all will be okay. “She’s very passionate about wanting to play. We have to respect that, right? So we have to let her emotions out, whether she’s angry (about her knee), upset, emotional, We have to let it flow and follow her.”
It’s been tradition for decades for McClatchy to share the ball on offense and to hustle on defense. Nothing has changed. The team remains fundamentally sound and superbly coached. Everyone was active against Folsom, including guards Laila Stancil-Williams and London Lee. They both scored 8 points and provided ball handling and pesky defense.
The Lions last spring graduated one of the program’s great basketball stars in two-time Bee Player of the Year Nina Cain, now playing on scholarship at the University of Washington. But tradition never graduates, and here come the Lions again.
McClatchy stormed to leads of 16-0 and 19-2, and Folsom rallied to pull to within 40-36 at the half. McClatchy pulled away and Folsom went cold. Reyes, Lee and Throckmorton combed to make six free throws to salt it away down the stretch.
Folsom’s season ends at 20-9, but the future looks promising for coach Lynn Wolking. Freshman guard Jayden Hill scored 18 points, making 3-pointers and helping the team run the floor. Sophomore wing Lilly Reed also scored 18 on a variety of shots.
Lions lifers lead the way
The Lions are led by alumni coaches who have done this gig for a bit as McClatchy lifers. Kunisaki was the head coach for the Lions in 2015 when they became the districts first girls team to win a CIF state championship, with Wada and Jeff Ota next to her as her top assistants.
Ota has been the Lions head coach in recent years with Kunisaki his go to during timeouts. One thing the coaches are united in is approach and effort. They will compete for every rebound and every loose ball and contest shots.
“We work on defense,” Wada said. “We really emphasize that at McClatchy and the girls really locked in tonight.”
The McClatchy coaches and players attended the Lions boys playoff thriller over Monterey Trail in a D-I opener and play at Folsom on Friday.
“We have a strong culture at McClatchy,” Wada said. “Jeff and Jessica coached me when I played in high school, and we’re all on the same page when it comes to fundamental basketball. It’s fun to see the girls do it so well.”
After winning the CIF state crown in 2015, Kunisaki coached a few seasons as an assistant with the Sacramento State women’s team. One of her fellow assistants there was Bill Baxter, a 600-game winning coach at El Camino High in Sacramento who in recent seasons has been an assistant coach with the Folsom Lake College women’s program.
“Jessica has two things going for her,” Baxter said after Thursday’s game as he took a peek. “She’s a superb coach and she has a great disposition. Nothing bothers her. That’s a good team.”
Kunisaki and Ota learned how to play the game and how to coach it from their mentor, Harvey Tahara, who coached the boys and girls teams to championships.
“The grit that we have, they just play so hard, and that’s all we ask,” Kunisaki said. “They followed the game plan. We have to rely on our defense because that’s what takes us over the hump.”