LIVERMORE, CA – To say Haley Jones went out with a bang on Sunday in one of the two senior girls games at the NorCal Sports TV All NorCal Games would be a bit of an understatement.
The All Everything and 6-1 Archbishop Mitty-San Jose Stanford-bound Jones does have one more all star game to play in when she and 6-5 USC-bound Angel Jackson of Salesian-Richmond travel to Las Vegas on April 20 to play in the Jordan Brand Classic.
While the Jordan game will be a national level contest the game at Las Positas College was a final farewell for Bay Area fans to see Jones in full form, and Jackson as well, but it was Jones that took control of the game more than once in what resulted in a 101-83 Bay Area victory over the girls from Sacramento.
With 11 girls on the Bay Area team and everyone getting a minimum of 13 minutes playing time, Jones didn’t even have the most minutes with 23, but she did have the most points and rebounds with a double-double 27 points and 14 rebounds with four assists and a steal. She was an obvious choice for Player of the Game.
Jackson finished with eight points, nine rebounds, four blocks and four assists. Northern Colorado-bound Mele Finau of Dublin was 4-of-8 from outside the arc and finished with 14 points and five rebounds. Texas-El Paso-signed 6-2 Tatyana Modawar of Carondelet-Concord was 2-of-3 on 3-poiners and had a double 12 points and 10 rebounds. Mia Grizelj, a 6-2 post from St. Francis-Mountain View bound for St. Mary’s, showed a couple of nifty moves and had 10 points and five rebound with a block, and unsigned Nyah Willis of Valley Christian-San Jose added 10 points.
“I think all the girls wanted to go out with a bang knowing it’s our last time playing with and against each other,” said Jones when asked if she wanted to give fans a show on Sunday.
The Sacramento girls were hanging with the Bay Area until about midway through the third of four 11-minute quarters when Jones led a 12-2 run to turn a 65-60 lead into a 77-62 advantage entering the final period. When Sac cut it to 81-69, Jones made seven straight points and Angel Jackson got a feed from Grand Canyon-bound Jada Holland (seven assists) of Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland to give Bay its largest lead at 90-69, and it was long over when Woodside Priory-Portola Valley and Bay Area Coach Buck Matthews pulled Haley with around two minutes to play.
New Mexico-bound Andriana Avent of Sacramento High helped keep Sac in the game with her hot shooting. She was 4-of-8 on 3-pointers and finished with a team high 20 points. Nailah Dillard, a Texas Tech-bound guard from Inderkum-Sacramento hit two treys and had 18 points with six rebounds. UC Santa Barbara-committed RyAnne
Walters of Sacramento added 11 points and Washington-bound Nia Lowery of McClatchy-Sacramento chipped in with 10 points.
San Francisco State-committed Rebekah Brown of Sacramento received the Defender of the Game award
The fact she could and did put on a show with the large crowd not really knowing that she was a bit under the weather was typical Jones.
From Wednesday through Saturday Jones was in Tampa, Florida for the USAB 3x3 and didn’t fly back until late Saturday. She had a sore throat and on top of it was woken up early Sunday morning by media wanting interviews. Even so, she traveled the 80-miles from her home in Santa Cruz to Livermore and never missed a beat.
“Playing with the girls today was a lot of fun. Now, we’re all off to college,” said Jones, who will compete April 13-14 in the 2019 USA Basketball 3x3 U18 National Championships at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs where she is the only invitee from California.
Sunday may have been the last time Bay Area fans can see Jones in a game on a basketball court but she’s doing some track for Mitty and has tried her hand at triple-jump, hurtles, 400 and the long jump, and will probably do pretty well and stay in shape for her change of address to The Farm this fall.
Bay Area boys make a statement
Just like the girls the Bay Area boys turned up the heat on Sacramento and ended up lighting up the scoreboard in a 156-104 victory in a game where they bolted to a 41-16 lead after one quarter.
Unsigned Jay Allen-Tovar may have done some things that will change his status. The 6-9 forward from Valley Christian-San Jose led seven Bay Area players in double-figure scoring with a double-double 27 points and 12 rebounds to garner Player of the Game honors.
Chance McMillan, an unsigned guard from Jesse Bethel-Vallejo, added 23 points, UC Davis-bound Ezra Manjon of Heritage-Brentwood had 19 points and five assists, Cal Poly-Pomona-signed William Chavarin of Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland finished with 18 points and four assists, unsigned Brett Thompson of James Logan-Union City had 17 points, San Diego State-committed 6-8 forward Keshad Johnson added 16 points and five rebounds, and Stanford-bound 6-9 forward Neal Begovich of St. Ignatius-San Francisco chipped in with 15 points, and unsigned Jovan McClanahan rounded out the producers with seven assists, six rebounds and four points.
Bryce Fitzgerald, an unsigned 6-8 forward from Monterey Trail-Elk Grove led five Sacramento players in double-figure scoring with 19 points plus six rebounds. Unsigned David Jones of Grant-Sacramento, Drake Middleton of Oak Ridge-El Dorado Hills, and Izayah Talmadge of Sacramento, all had 12 points, and Steven Richardson of Grant added 11 points and six assists.
