Bishop Montgomery High hired Camille Buckley as its new girls’ basketball coach last week.
Buckley will be the 18th head coach in the Knights’ basketball history. She is a 2009 graduate of Colony High in Ontario, where she was CIF-Southern Section Division IIIA Player of the Year in keying the Titans to the Division IIIA crown. Buckley, in fact, keyed Colony to Southern Section titles in her junior and senior seasons in 2007-08 and 2008-09, in order. She went on to play at Loyola-Marymount University and UC Irvine.
Bishop Montgomery High hired Camille Buckley as its new girls’ basketball coach last week.
Buckley will be the 18th head coach in the Knights’ basketball history. She is a 2009 graduate of Colony High in Ontario, where she was CIF-Southern Section Division IIIA Player of the Year in keying the Titans to the Division IIIA crown. Buckley, in fact, keyed Colony to Southern Section titles in her junior and senior seasons in 2007-08 and 2008-09, in order. She went on to play at Loyola-Marymount University and UC Irvine.
Buckley replaces Bridgette Reyes, who will be an assistant coach at Loyola Marymount University. Reyes guided Bishop Montgomery to the CIF-Southern Section Division IVAA crown in the 2013-14 season. The Knights had a lot of success in girls’ basketball even winning three California State championships.
Hicks is top Grid Hoop Athlete: Narbonne High football-basketball standout Jamal Hicks was recently named as the California Grid Hoop Player of the Year by CalHi Sports.
Last fall, Hicks, a defensive back, helped the Gauchos win the CIF-Los Angeles City Section Division I and the California State Division IA championships. The Gauchos rolled over Crenshaw 56-21 for the City title, their fourth in the past five seasons, then they defeated Clayton Valley from Concord 28-14 for their first state title. It was also the first state football championship ever by a CIF-L.A. City Section school, since the section was founded in 1934, and the first by an L.A. City School since Manual Arts won the state title over Bakersfield in 1917. At that time, the L.A. City schools were with the Southern Section that was founded in 1913.
In basketball, Hicks was the team’s Most Valuable Player as he keyed Narbonne to a CIF-L.A. City Section Open Division runner-up finish behind Westchester. The Gauchos went to the Southern California Regional Division I semifinals where they lost a 63-62 nailbiter to Redondo. The Sea Hawks went on to lose a 66-63 overtime contest to eventual CIF-State Division I champion Encino Crespi.
Garcia keys District 37 Big League Stars: Recent Gardena High graduate Ralph Garcia hit a two-run home run to help the District 37 Big League all-star baseball team to a 9-3 win over Culver City of District 25 on June 28 at Culver City.
Garcia had a homer, along with recent Lawndale High standout Demitri McField. Garcia spent the past few seasons with the Lennox Little League. Last spring, he helped the Panthers to the CIF-L.A. City Section Division II playoffs where they lost in the first round to host Eagle Rock 7-4.
Unfortunately, District 37, which included players from the Lennox, El Camino Village Tri Park (including players from Gardena, Hawthorne, Lawndale and El Camino Village), Hawthorne American and Lawndale, lost in the championship final to Culver City 9-5 on June 29. District 37 began with an 11-2 rout of Santa Monica (also from District 25) on June 26, but fell to Culver City 7-6 a day later. Culver went on to win two of three from District 37.
_______________________
Sports Scoop
Durant could make Golden State a Super Power
By Joe Snyder
Sports Editor
Over the past two seasons, the Golden State Warriors were a dynasty. They won the National Basketball Association championship in the 2014-15 season, then displayed the NBA’s best ever regular season record of 73-9 over this past season. Unfortunately, the Warriors blew a three games to one lead and fell to the La Bron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers in seven games. It gave Cleveland its first major pro sports championship since the National Football League Browns won the title in 1964.
Things, however, look even better for the Oakland-based team. It signed Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant a two-year contract worth $54.3 million.
Golden State definitely is seeking the championship. Can the Warriors go 82-0 over the regular season and 97-0 overall for another championship? It seems impossible. Every team has a bad game once in awhile. Golden State looks to be virtually unbeatable. The unity of superstars Durant, Stephen Curry and Clay Thompson has become a reality; at least for the next two seasons.
Laker Rookies Start Well: The Los Angeles Lakers National Basketball Association team, playing mostly rookies, looked impressive in their first two Summer League games in Las Vegas.
Their recent top draft pick, Brandon Ingram from Duke University in North Carolina, was particularly outstanding in keying the Lakers to wins over the Portland Trailblazers and the Philadelphia 76’ers for a 2-0 record. Many observers look at Ingram to potentially be their “Kevin Bryant.” Hopefully for the 2016-17 season, they will improve over their miserable 17-65 slate of this past season. It will be a few years before they reach championship contention, though.
Kershaw will return soon: Clayton Kershaw was already cleared to return as he is expected back in the line-up within the next week.
The Los Angeles Dodgers Major League Baseball team, though, is continuing to excel, especially with a pitcher returning from a long term injury in Brandon McCarthy. He shut out the Colorado Rockies and defeated the San Diego Padres last Saturday at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers entered last week’s all-star break with a 51-40 record and in second place, 6 ½ games behind the National League Western Division leading San Francisco Giants. The Giants are seeking their fourth consecutive even number year World Series championship, already winning in 2010, 2012 and 2014.
Smith inching in Majors: Currently, former Serra High baseball standout Dominic Smith is in the New York Mets AA team but he feels he is closing in on playing for the big team. He is playing first base.
Last Sunday, Smith played in the Futures All-Star squad and is extremely close to playing with AAA Las Vegas. Look for him, by as early as next season or even late this year, to be with the Mets and could be seen at Dodger Stadium, where he keyed the Cavaliers to the CIF-Southern Section Division III baseball championship with an 8-1 win over Manhattan Beach Mira Costa in 2013.
Reyes joins in with Morris at LMU: Two months ago, Bishop Montgomery head girls’ basketball coach Bridgette Reyes accepted an assistant coaching job at Loyola-Marymount University in Westchester.
Replacing Reyes, who guided the Knights to the Southern Section Division IVAA title in 2014, will be former Ontario Colony High star Camille Buckley.
A few weeks later, Redondo head coach Reggie Morris, Jr. left his position for an assistant coaching job with the LMU men’s squad. Morris coached the Sea Hawks for four seasons and guided Redondo to the Southern Section Division IIAA, Southern California and California Division II crowns in his first season in 2012-13. Over this past season, Morris coached the Sea Hawks to the consolation finals of the Southern Section Open Division and the Southern California Regional Division I finals where they fell short of Encino Crespi 66-63 on March 18 at the Cal State Long Beach Pyramid. Most felt that Morris, also a very successful head mentor at Lawndale Leuzinger and Playa del Rey St. Bernard Highs, would move on to coach in college. He should do well in getting the Lions some banner seasons. Morris guided Leuzinger to the Southern Section Division IA crown in 2010 and St. Bernard to the Division VAA title in 2012. He also coached the Vikings to the 2011 California State Division V championship where they lost to Alameda St. Joseph-St. Mary’s 47-44. Morris also coached Oklahoma City Thunders standout Russell Westbrook, who graduated from Leuzinger in 2006, and another Olympic standout, Delon Wright, who went on to play in the NBA.
