The high school basketball season has come to the end and even though the playoffs leave a bitter taste in everyone’s mouth, it shouldn’t.
Here are some memories.

Elsie Allen Wins Championship
This is a headline that didn’t seem possible or imaginable.
Elsie Allen won the SCL Regular Season Boys Championship and rewrote the school record book at the same time, winning a school record twenty two games.
Head Coach Madison Lott was named SCL coach of the year and senior center Jalen Busby was named the league player of the year.  Busby averaged 20.7 a game, which included 42 in an 81-65 win at Piner, which basically sewed up the league championship.
Cardinal Newman Girls
It could be ten years from now, or twenty years or probably even longer.
When a list of the best Girls basketball teams in local history is mentioned, the 2014-15 Cardinal Newman Girls will be on it.
The Cardinal Newman Girls dominated the North Bay League as much as any team in the league’s history.  They weren’t close to losing a league game, and that includes in the North Bay League post season tournament.
Cardinal Newman had two 19 point wins in league play, which were the closest of any league game.  In the North Bay League post season tournament they won games by 27 and 41.
As one sided as all that sounds, it was probably more one sided than that.
Championship night
The NBL championship event at SRJC, is always my favorite event of the local sports season.  This year though, that event had some heavy competition with the SCL Boys Championship game on the same night with Elsie Allen hosting.
After debating most of the week on which to see, I saw both.
First it was a trip to one end of town to see the SCL Boys game and watch Piner edge Elsie Allen in what was one of the best games of the season.
Then it was over to the other end of town to the JC.  I arrived early in the second half of the Cardinal Newman-Montgomery NBL Boys game.  That was also one of the best games of the season, but it is Cardinal Newman-Montgomery.  It is a local rule, which they have to at least have one of the best games of the season.
Two super games in one super night.

The Amazing Finish
It turned into one of the biggest games in the NBL race, to one of the biggest games in the NBL race for a different reason.
Casa Grande led Cardinal Newman by nine with two minutes left and by six with :30 left.  It appeared at the halfway point of the league race, Casa Grande would have a two game lead in the NBL race.
Cardinal Newman scored twelve straight points in those thirty seconds to take a 60-54 win.  The race was now tied, and it was a battle to the end which ended in a two way tie between Cardinal Newman and Montgomery.
Rancho Cotate Girls Get League Wins
It was a promising start for the Rancho Cotate Girls Basketball team.  They won the Lower Lake tournament, which was part of a 5-4 start.  That earned them a spot in the YSN365.com rankings.
Then league started and things looked familiar with a 0-7 start, which raised their league losing streak to 36 straight. The Cougar Girls hadn’t won a league game since February 7th, 2012.
That changed on January 27th, when Rancho Cotate defeated Maria Carrillo 72-54.  That turned out to be their only league win, but this is a very young team that has most everyone coming back and gives hope for the future.

Cloverdale comes out in a Big Way
It was one of the few nights that that a playoff game had a playoff game atmosphere.  It was the second round of the NCS playoffs, which was one of several Girl-Boy doubleheaders that Cardinal Newman hosted.  The first game was the Cardinal Newman Girls against Justin Siena, which was followed by the Boys game between Cardinal Newman and Cloverdale.
The people from Cloverdale came out in force.  It was the biggest crowd of the season, at least at a high school venue. That was mainly because of the Cloverdale faithful. The gym was packed by halftime of the Girls game.
The two games weren’t very close and didn’t have the playoff feeling, but the crowd that was ready to roar did.
TEAMS THAT ENDED LOCAL SEASON
Four local teams made it to the Nor Cal playoffs. Here is how the teams that beat them did or are still doing.
DIVISON 2 BOYS
Montgomery lost to Cosumnes Oaks in the second round.  Cosumnes Oaks won the game at Montgomery and then had to go on the road again to San Jose for the Semi-Final, and lost to Archbishop Mitty 73-64.  Mitty went on to win its fifth Nor Cal championship in nine seasons.
DIVISON 4 BOYS
Cardinal Newman Boys lost to St. Mary’s in the Semi-Finals.  The Panthers lost to No. 4 Capital Christian 60-47 in the Nor Cal Championship game.  It is Capital Christian’s first ever trip to the state championship game.  Capital Christian defeated Marin Catholic 77-70 in the semi-finals, so they took care of the North Coast Section.
DIVISON 4 GIRLS
Cardinal Newman Girls lost the heartbreaker to Brookside Christian in the Semi-Final.  Brookside Christian is still going, after holding on to defeat Piedmont 53-45 in the Nor Cal championship game.  They led that game 42-21 early in the third quarter.
Brookside Christian plays the Division 4 defending championship from Southern California for the state championship on Saturday
DIVISION 6 BOYS
Liberty Christian followed up its win over Archbishop Hanna in the semi-finals, by defeating Paradise Adventist Academy to win the Nor Cal championship.  It was the first year for the Division 6 to have Nor Cal playoffs, and is as far as they go.
SONOMA STATE NO-HITTER
Ryan Luna pitched the first Sonoma State no-hitter since April of 2005.  It was a seven inning no-hitter in a 7-0 win over Cal State Stanislaus.  Luna struck out a season high nine and walked two.  One other baserunner reached base on a pass ball on a strikeout.
It was Luna’s third straight win after starting the season 0-2.
PETALUMA NO-HITTER
Petaluma Junior Brendon White pitched a no-hitter in a 6-0 win over Concord.  White struck out three and walked two. It was Petaluma’s second win in six games.  White, who is a junior, had pitched four innings in his first two outings before throwing the seven inning no-hitter.
AL RABINOVITZ TOURNAMENT BEGINS
Montgomery is the host of the annual tournament. Here is the schedule.
TUESDAY
11 AM
Analy at Montgomery
Ukiah at Piner
Northgate vs. Windsor at SRJC
Chico vs. Petaluma at Doyle Park
2:30
Loser Game 1 and 2 at Piner
Loser Game 3 and 4 at Doyle
Winner Game 1 and 2 at Montgomery
Winner Game 3 and 4 at SRJC
WEDNESDAY 3/25
10 am…7th place game at Doyle Park
10 am…Consolation at Montgomery
1 pm…3rd place at Montgomery
4 pm…Championship Game at Montgomery
BRACKET HERE
 
SOME TENNIS
As the league reaches the halfway point, Cardinal Newman is in sole possession of first place in the NBL tennis race. They took that position with a 4-3 win over Maria Carrillo.  Both teams went into the match 5-0.
It was 3-3 going into the last doubles match of the day.  Five of the seven matches were straight set wins.  The two they weren’t were the first double matches of the day with the two teams splitting that.
The No. 1 singles for Cardinal Newman is Alejandro Serrano Osoba who is a freshman transfer student from Spain.  He defeated Maria Carrillo’s No. 1 Valentin Lohmer 6-0, 6-0.  Lohmer is a sophomore, so those two will probably be seeing quite a bit from each other the next couple of years.
The next time will probably be on April 21st, when the two teams meet at Maria Carrillo.
My email address is jacpasquini@comcast.net
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