Serra High’s girls’ basketball team enjoyed a very big non-league win over Long Beach St. Anthony 51-46 in a battle between the No. 1 and 4 ranked teams in the CIF-Southern Section Division IV last Saturday at Serra.
Currently, the defending California State Division IV champion Cavaliers are top ranked in IVAA, while the Saints are fourth.
Keying the Cavaliers was returning senior all-California state player Caila Hailey with 14 points, six rebounds, five assists and five steals.
Serra High’s girls’ basketball team enjoyed a very big non-league win over Long Beach St. Anthony 51-46 in a battle between the No. 1 and 4 ranked teams in the CIF-Southern Section Division IV last Saturday at Serra.
Currently, the defending California State Division IV champion Cavaliers are top ranked in IVAA, while the Saints are fourth.
Keying the Cavaliers was returning senior all-California state player Caila Hailey with 14 points, six rebounds, five assists and five steals.
Hailey also ignited a Serra fourth quarter rally after the Cavaliers trailed by as many as six points in that period. She sealed the game with two late free throws.
Also keying Serra’s balanced attack was Brijaye Brackett with 13 points and 14 rebounds.
Cydney Bolton added five points and eight steals, including two in the final period that aided the Cavaliers’ come-from-behind victory.
Serra opens the always highly competitive Del Rey League at St. Bernard High in Playa del Rey next Tuesday at 7 p.m.
It will be a rematch of last season’s Southern California Regional final that was won by the Cavaliers 63-54.
After losing head coach Bo Corona, who was dismissed from St. Bernard and is now head coaching at Leuzinger in Lawndale, the rebuilding Lady Vikings are 5-8 after a 61-60 home win over Buckley from Sun Valley last Thursday.
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Jackson, Williams make key plays in All-American Classics
By Joe Snyder
Serra High standout football players Adoree Jackson and Dwight Williams had highlights in their All-American All-Star Football Bowl games last week.
Last Thursday at Tropicana Field in St. Petersberg, Fla., Jackson participated in the Under Armour Classic. The cornerback, who was last week chosen as the Cal Hi Sports Player of the Year and on the Maxpreps First-team all-American team as a defensive back, made a key interception in the end zone for Team Highlight that thwarted a Team Nitron drive and several other outstanding defensive plays to key Highlight over Nitron 31-21.
Jackson’s interception came early in the second quarter off Nitron quarterback Travis McKenzie that ended a scoring hope. He played throughout most of the game.
In last Saturday’s United States Army All-American Classic at the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, Texas, Williams blocked a punt that gave the West team the ball at the East 15-yard line. Just three plays later, running back Royce Freeman of Imperial High scored the West’s first touchdown on an 8-yard run to give the team a 7-0 lead.
The West went on to dominate the East 28-6.
Shortly after the play, Williams announced in front of the NBC audience that he committed to play his college football at UCLA.
“For the next four years, I am going to be getting my education at the University of California Los Angeles,” Williams said when on his commitment early in the second quarter.
Williams will be playing for head coach Jim Mora, who turned around the Bruins with a 19-8 two-season record. Over this past season, UCLA had its first 10-win season in eight years with a 10-3 record and an easy 42-12 win over Virginia Tech in the Sun Bowl on New Year’s Eve in El Paso, Texas.
Williams said that UCLA has a great coaching staff and very good academics, as well. He plans to pursue a career in law.
Williams also considered Oklahoma, Louisiana State University (LSU), Florida and Clemson before picking up the light blue cap with UCLA in written gold letterings.
Williams will also be following the footsteps of Serra High head coach Scott Altenberg, who is a UCLA alumn, and his late father, Kurt, who was a standout with the Bruins’ football team in 1965. His biggest play of that season was a 52-yard touchdown reception that led the Bruins to a win over cross town rival University of Southern California (USC).
Jackson appears to be sticking his decision to wait until the National Signing Day on Feb. 5. His top considerations include LSU, Florida, Tennessee, Oregon, UCLA and USC.
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Cavs split non-league games in Phoenix
By Joe Snyder
After finishing fourth by splitting two games in the Modesto Christian Tournament in the period between Christmas and New Year’s, Serra High’s boys’ basketball team split two games in the Monarch Classic last Saturday in Phoenix, Az.
In the first game, the Cavaliers fell short of Phoenix Sunnyslope, ranked fourth in Arizona, 68-65. In the second game of the day, Serra bounced back to knock off Arizona’s No. 3 ranked team in Mountain View of Mesa 61-54.
In Serra’s opening game, Tavrion Dawson led the Cavaliers (9-6) with 18 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots. Ron Freeman contributed 13 points and five rebounds.
Against Mountain View, Freeman led with 18 points, eight rebounds and four blocks. Dawson had a double-double with 15 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.
The Cavaliers’ win finally gave head coach Dwan Hurt his 801st victory. He reached the 800-win milestone when Serra topped Freedom High from Oakley 71-57 on Dec. 26 in the championship quarterfinals of the Modesto Christian Tournament.
It took four tries for Hurt to get his 801st.
In the final two games of the Modesto Christian Classic, the Cavaliers lost to Monte Vista 38-36 on Dec. 28 and Modesto Christian 69-53 on Dec. 30.
Dawson was named to the all-tournament team.
Serra tunes up for the Del Rey League as it plays two challenge classic games on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, the Cavaliers travel to Lincoln Prep High in San Diego to take on Rancho Christian High from Temecula at a time to be determined. On Saturday, the Cavaliers have their own classic at Cerritos College where they play a strong Bay League school in Rolling Hills Estates Peninsula at 5 p.m.
Serra begins Del Rey action on Jan. 17 at home against La Salle from Pasadena, beginning at 7 p.m.
Gardena (3-8 overall and 0-2 in the Marine League) finished fourth in the San Pedro Pirate Classic with a 73-70 loss to host San Pedro on Dec. 30.
