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The San Ramon Valley girls’ basketball team has become one of the top perennial programs in Northern California, moving into the CIF Northern California Regionals.
The Wolves always seem to have been led by senior-laden teams, and in fact sent three players to Division I NCAA basketball.
This year was going to be different — much different. Instead of a senior-laden team, the Wolves would be sending out a core unit of a freshman, four sophomores and a junior.
Or was it going to be different?
As we sit on the opening night of the CIF State Basketball Championship tournament, let’s see how the Wolves have fared compared to last year.
The Wolves last year entered NorCal 27-3. This year? 27-3.
Last year San Ramon Valley lost in the North Coast Section finals. This year, they just beat Acalanes 76-43. The same Acalanes team that was 28-1 coming into the game, including beating San Ramon Valley by 15 points earlier this year.
“No one expected us to win (NCS),” San Ramon Valley coach John Cristiano said. “We played (Acalanes) early in the finals of a tournament in San Diego, and they blew us out.”
So, what caused the 48-point turnaround?
It would be easy to chalk it up to the inexperience that comes with such a young team. Talented but green — a team that figures to get better, much better as the season goes on.
Cristiano only lets that go so far.
“We were/are very young and that plays a part,” Cristiano said. “But the girls were just ready to play from the start. I told them to care so much that you don’t care at all. I mean, they can think about all the work they’ve put in and just know they have earned it. Wow — did they run with that.”
This was the fourth NCS Open final the team had been to with Cristiano, but it was only the first title. It’s a bit of a head scratcher, as his former teams had some serious senior players, while this group had a bunch of young, pressure-less ballers.
And that’s what Cristiano came to as the key.
“The last few teams had loaded seniors, but with that came the pressure of it being your last shot before moving on to college,” Cristiano said. “This team feels no pressure. Not one girl on this team had started a game for a San Ramon Valley varsity team. They are going to go out, play basketball and play it with joy. They are loose and hungry to fight.”
Cristiano took the time to run through his four all-East Bay Athletic League players.
Ella Gunderson (sophomore): “She was the Offensive Player of the Year as a sophomore. She’s been sensational on the court, but also as a young adult off the court and as one of our captains. She had 19 points and 11 rebounds.”
Alyssa Rudd (junior, transfer from Monte Vista): “She walked into our program as a double-double superstar. She is crazy good. In the championship game she had 23 points and 17 rebounds.”
Kaitlyn Mills (freshman): “She was given the point guard job as a freshman and had to learn everything. We had a complex system, and she learned it and learned it fast. Amazing.”
Hania Bowes (sophomore): “She’s the little sister of Cal player Sofia Bowes that played here. She is a defensive dream. I went back through the season and watched every minute of every game to get the stats. When she was on the court, her opponent averaged only 2.1 points per game — the entire game — and she is guarding the best player on the other team.”
Even though the team was young, Cristiano and his staff stuck to their standard team goals.
“This has been such a fun season,” Cristiano said. “We have the same five goals. One, character and culture are the keys, and we want to have a healthy year; two, win 25 games; Three, win EBAL; Ffour, get a top three seed in NCS; And five, make the state tournament. I believe if you go through those it’s check, check, check, check, and check.”
Is there anything left?
“They just keep playing for the next practice,” Cristiano said. “I asked the team if anyone wanted to stop practicing and not one girl raised her arm. I asked them if they wanted another practice and everyone raised their arm. They keep fighting to have another practice.”
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for the Pleasanton Weekly. This column originally appeared in Tri-Valley Preps Playbook, a weekly sports e-newsletter published by Embarcadero Media Foundation.
