By Damien Barling
MaxPreps.com
With all the talk in the Metro League surrounding Sacramento High's soon-to-be Lady Volunteer Vicki Baugh, few have noticed the Grant Pacers jumping off to a 16-0 start with a huge win coming last week against seventh-ranked McClatchy.
Brittany Shine leads the Pacers at 15 points and 3.7 assists per game, while 5-8 junior Collette Eugene is averaging a double-double (12.4 points, 10.1 rebounds).
Grant, sitting at top of the area's toughest division in girls basketball, faces its biggest test this season on Tuesday (1/23) when Baugh's third-ranked Sacramento squad comes calling. This will be the first of two meetings, as the schools do battle again on the final day of regular season play (Feb. 9).
McClatchy Suffers Two League Losses
McClatchy, which entered last week No. 7 in Sacramento Bee's Top 20, suffered two league play losses and may have put its playoff hopes in jeopardy.
McClatchy began its week with a huge game against the undefeated Grant Pacers. With the Lions leading by six points with less then two minutes to play it appeared McClatchy would gain a huge league win. Sloppy play and missed free throws allowed the Pacers to come back and win 67-64 in overtime.
"I think it's a situation where we're beating ourselves in some of those games," McClatchy head coach Harvey Tahara told the Sacramento Bee. "We can't do that if we want to win the rest of our league games and earn a strong power ranking heading into the playoffs."
Although Coach Tahara said it was a tough loss he was sure his team could recover.
He was wrong.
Two days following the loss to Grant, the Lions walked into the home of the Burbank Titans and fell once again in a tightly-contested affair, 38-36.
McClatchy was outscored 9-2 in the final quarter, surely conjuring up thoughts of the Grant game two days earlier.
With McClatchy now sitting on 13-5 overall, 1-3 in league play, and rematches with Burbank, Sacramento, and Grant on the way, it's going to be an uphill battle for the talented McClatchy team to make the playoffs.
Eagles Go 3-1 In Busy Week
The Capital League-leading El Camino Eagles kicked off a busy week of play by dropping their fourth game of the season, losing to No. 8 St. Francis, 72-69.
Jennifer Cummings led St. Francis with 20 points and Ariel Gregersen chipped in a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Lisa Peterson paced the Eagles with a double-double of her own, scoring 20 points and pulling down 11 rebounds.
The loss marked the second time El Camino had fallen to the now 11-7 St Francis Troubadours.
The Eagles bounced back two days later, destroying Rio Americano in league play, 83-27. El Camino also gained victories last week over Casa Roble, 87-45, and Granada, 64-43.
Boys Basketball: El Camino Off to Fast Start
The El Camino basketball program has generally gained a considerable amount of attention on the girls' side, but this year the boys are getting in on the act and have started this season with a spectacular 16-2 record.
The Eagles have won 13-straight and show no signs of slowing down.
"We can score, but it's a matter of whether we can keep the other team from scoring," El Camino coach Justin Clymo told the Sacramento Bee.
The Phoenix Suns run and gun style of ball has not only worked for the Eagles in the win-loss category, but has produced some exciting offensive numbers, including scores of 92, 94, and 109.
With league play just getting underway, El Camino will have to continue its high octane offense if they want to hand Clymo his first league title during his eight-year run at the school.
Other Basketball Scores
The Jesuit boys improved their record to 18-1 by beating Florin 71-46.18-2 Rocklin lost a heartbreaker to 7-13 Nevada Union, 56-55.Jesuit enters this week No. 3 in the MaxPreps California rankings. Despite the loss, Rocklin sits at No. 7.
