Best of the Best all-star girls basketball game: North 71, South 59

 

The picture above from staff photographer Gabe Acosta, that includes Rialto’s Birttany Neely (right) and Moreno Valley Rancho Verde’s Tierra Fuqua shows a bit of the physical nature of Friday’s Best of the Best All-Star Girls Basketball Game on Friday at Rialto High, a game won by the North, 71-59.

Here are my thoughts on the game:

  • The game didn’t start off on the right foot, with a delay at the start because of difficulty in getting the Rialto High bleachers pulled out.
  • Was it truly the “Best of the Best”? No. Was it the best all-star game I’ve ever seen? No. But was it the most physical and the one with the most defense? Yes.
  • I was skeptical about the quality and intensity of the game since players on the North team covered an area from Pasadena and Pico Rivera to Redlands and the South team from Beaumont to Chino Hills. Many of them didn’t know who each other were, let alone played with them before. But the quality of play was better than that.
  • I have seen plenty of runs in all-star games over the years, but a 19-0 run by the North  that eventually was 25-2 was ridiculous. It did not seem to be major domination. It was just one team making shots and the other one missing during the normal flow of the game.
  • Redlands’ Dominique Underwood scored 14 points in the game and won the 3-point contest, repeating her win from the San Bernardino-Riverside County game.

Here is my box score from the game:
SOUTH (59)
Tierra Fuqua (Rancho Verde) 12, Bianca Villegas (Jurupa Valley) 12, Alexis Hernandez (Beaumont) 11, Paige Tompkin (Jurupa Valley) 10, Kacie Hitomi (Ayala) 6, Kathryn Thomas (Perris) 2, Janae Erickson (San Dimas) 2, Amelia Villegas (Jurupa Valley) 2, Kristi Sakamoto (Ayala) 1, Priscilla White (Ganesha) 1, Priscilla White (Ganesha) 0.
NORTH (71)
Dominique Underwood (Redlands) 14, Brittany Neely (Rialto) 13, Dariel Johnson (Pasadena) 10, Katrina Anthony (San Gorgonio) 6, Kenyetta Fugate (Rialto) 6, Miya Arrington (Rialto) 5, Patty Ayala (El Rancho) 5, Kris Tatikian (Pasadena) 3, Jay Williams (Arroyo Valley) 3, Eleesha Robinson (San Bernardino) 3, Brittany Andrews (San Bernardino) 2, Cenclair Fields (San Gorgonio) 1, Hope Anderson (San Bernardino) 0.
Halftime: North, 35-30.
3-pointers: Underwood (N) 3, Neely (N) 3, Johnson (N), Ayala (N), Takitan (N), Williams (N), Robinson (N), B. Villegas (S), Fuqua (S), Hernandez (S),

 

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