Central Cali's Standout Players: Centennial v. BCHS

Central, CA - This past Saturday, February 7th, I attended the half-day event at Centennial High School, which featured games between the Bakersfield Christian Eagles and the Centennial Golden Hawks for all three levels, for both the boys and girls programs. I arrived for the girls varsity game and was able to watch arguably the two best teams in the South Valley deliver a great display of skill and talent. In this article I look at 6 players that had standout showings in the girls varsity game, which will be followed by a look at the standout players from the boys varsity game. I discuss how they played in the game and their relevant statistics, which are my own personal statistics, as well as a brief summary of their skill sets. The players are not listed in ranked order, but in alphabetical order. We begin with a look at standout freshman [player_tooltip player_id='1268725' first='Brielle' last='Medrano']. Final score: Bakersfield Christian Eagles 67 Centennial Golden Hawks 60    Medrano had her offensive skill set on full display against Centennial of Bakersfield, showing off the dynamic handles, range from beyond the arc, and the court vision to make quality finds off the drive and kick pass. I have heard a lot about the standout freshman's game this season, but this was my first time seeing her in person and she lived up to the hype and then some. Medrano showed off the range with the 3-ball and connected on 5 threes over the court of the game to finish with 25 points in the Lady Eagles win over the Lady Hawks. Medrano has a tight handles, keeps the ball on a string to survey the defense, uses the low-crossover, behind-cross, between-cross, the hesitation, and the toss-cross to get her defender off balance, has a great burst of speed off the bounce staying low to the ground on the attack, and displayed 3-level scoring ability to go with quality decision making with the ball to find open teammates for looks off the catch, in particular Kayala Miller. Medrano moves well off the ball, gets to her shot spots, and can score in volume from the 3-point line off the dribble or the catch. Medrano has good moves to evade height in the paint, and is a creative scorer around the basket. Great poise and control of the pace of play and only getting started. Medrano has averaged a team-high 20.7 points per game to go with nearly 3 steals per game and had a career scoring high of 34 points against Bakersfield on January 14th, which she has scored 30 or more three times and plenty of 20+ point games. A player to track in Cali the next three years.     Miller hit big shots in the win over city rival Centennial of Bakersfield, and showed she can score the ball from various spots on the floor from 3-levels. Miller has averaged 11 points, nearly 10 rebounds, and 2.5 steals per game, but she basically tripled her season average on Saturday, going for 31 points connecting on 4 threes, and showed she can make tough shots off the bounce or the catch and shoot. Miller has a strong and athletic build, solid handles to keep the dribble alive to survey the floor, finds openings in the defense to attack, attacks holes in the defense with good speed off the dribble, the strength to score through contact on shots around the basket, gets good lift on the jumper with accuracy from the mid-range to the 3-point line, and moves well off the ball to get to her shot spots to be ready for catch and shoot opportunities. Miller is active on the glass, has the handle to push the ball off the glass, outlets to Medrano so she can get up the court for passes up the court, and is a tough on-ball defender with active hands and good footwork to stay in front of opposing players, and force them into bad decisions and turnovers. Impressive display of shot-making in the win over Centennial of Bakersfield.      Nichols does all the dirty work in the paint for the Lady Eagles and was a force on the glass on both ends in the win over the Lady Hawks this past Saturday. Nichols was not a huge direct contributor to the scoreboard, as she would finish with 5 points, but she had around 10 rebounds and several deflections or altered shots with her length in the paint to bother opposing players. Nichols does a good job of out-letting the ball to her guards, runs the floor well to get ahead of the defense, and has good touch around the basket. Nichols sets good screens, has the timing down on the dive to the basket off the pick and roll action, and will be key for the Lady Eagles as it looks to be a high seed in the D2 Section playoffs. Nichols has averaged 9.5 points, 11 rebounds, 3 steals, and 1.6 blocks per game, with that near double-double being big to get second chance shots for the high scoring backcourt.      Kai has been one of the top players in lady hoops in the Central Section since her freshman year, and continues to add to her skill set and scoring arsenal, as she connected on several high-level shots in the loss to BCHS this past Saturday. Kai had a strong showing from start to finish, as she would score 10 points in the first half, followed by 12 points in the second half for a total of 22 points to lead her team in scoring, as she has done since she joined the varsity roster as a freshman. Kai had four to five buckets that displayed elite footwork, court awareness, feel for her defender's positioning, and the confidence to back up the skill needed to make tough shots on a regular basis. Kai has solid handles, keeps the ball on a string to survey the floor, has the court vision to make plays to open teammates off the drive and kick, up the court off the glass, and out of the pick and roll action, which is evident in her average of 5 assists per game. Kai is a great positional rebounder, gets put-backs off the glass, or limits opponents to single shot possessions, and has averaged nearly 6 rebounds per game. Kai is a high-level on-ball defender with active hands, good instincts, and the lateral foot-speed to stay in front of her opponent and get into their dribbling space, which leads to deflections, steals from poking the ball out or jumping passing lanes, and turns defense to offense with an astonishing 6.4 steals per game for the season, Kai is leading the Lady Hawks in scoring at 18.6 points per game and will be heavily relied upon to keep the scoring numbers up in the postseason, with Centennial the likely 1 or 2 seed in the D2 Section playoffs.      Keke has the physical style of play to operate and dominate in the paint, as well as the perimeter skill to score off the wing and space the floor to create lanes for her and her teammates to attack. Keke scored the ball consistently in both halves and was a huge reason that the Lady Hawks were able to keep pace with the scoring back-court duo of BCHS, as she would display moves to score around the basket, as well as the perimeter shooting from the mid-range to the 3-point line to keep her defender honest. Keke would end up with 18 points, 11 of those coming in the second half when the game was back and forth on the scoreboard before the Lady Eagles took control in the last two minutes of the game. Keke is active on the boards, gets put-backs off the glass with touch on shots around the basket, the physical style of play with the moves to attack the basket, absorb contact, and score through traffic. Keke moves well off the ball, does a good job of popping off the ball-screen to get open, or can create off the dribble, where she can connect on the jumper from the mid-range to the 3-point line off the catch or the dribble. Versatile defender that can hold up against bigger players in the post, as well as stay in front of perimeter players on switches. Keke has averaged 14 points and 4.5 rebounds per game this season, and will be relied upon to do both as the playoffs are a week away.     Laker has been a consistent featured player for the Lady Hawks since her freshman year, and she was true to form in displaying her strengths on the court; shooting the 3-ball and playing lock-up on-ball defense on perimeter players. Laker played more of the facilitator in the first half, as sister and cousin scored a bulk of the Lady Hawk points in the first half. Laker connected on a pair of threes in the second half and did all she could do to help Centennial get past BCHS, but the stellar play of Miller prevented the comeback win. Laker has solid handles, good court vision to make plays off the drive and kick pass, and moves fluidly off the ball to get open looks off the catch from the perimeter, with the ability to score in bunches from beyond the arc. Laker has great footwork, good lateral quickness to stay in front of her opponent, and gets into their dribbling space with active hands to deflect passes or poke the ball out, turning defense to offense on the regular. Laker has put up great numbers this season, with averages of 10 points, 4.6 assists, and 4 steals per game.

Central, CA - This past Saturday, February 7th, I attended the half-day event at Centennial High School, which featured games between the Bakersfield Christian Eagles and the Centennial Golden Hawks for all three levels, for both the boys and girls programs. I arrived for the girls varsity game and was able to watch arguably the two best teams in the South Valley deliver a great display of skill and talent. In this article I look at 6 players that had standout showings in the girls varsity game, which will be followed by a look at the standout players from the boys varsity game. I discuss how they played in the game and their relevant statistics, which are my own personal statistics, as well as a brief summary of their skill sets. The players are not listed in ranked order, but in alphabetical order. We begin with a look at standout freshman Brielle Medrano Brielle Medrano 5'5" | CG/SG Bakersfield Christian | 2029 CA . Final score: Bakersfield Christian Eagles 67 Centennial Golden Hawks 60