While the high school basketball season is still a few weeks away, the community college season has already burst out of the gate with the Cañada and Skyline men, along with San Mateo and Skyline women, three games into the 2015-16 campaign.
The two local women’s squad are off to a combined 5-1 start, with College of San Mateo the only one of the four teams undefeated. The two men’s teams have combined to start the season 2-4.
Women
College of San Mateo
The Lady Bulldogs improved to 3-0 with a 79-61 win over Gavilan last week. Including wins over Hartnell and Cabrillo, CSM has won by an average of 23 points per game.
Mariah Elzy, a freshman out of James Logan in Union City, had a big game in her return from a concussion, scoring 21 points against Galivan. She scored 21 in the season-opening 94-62 win over Hartnell, but missed the Cabrillo game after hitting her head in the weight room.
Elzy is one of four Bulldogs averaging double digits scoring. Megan Pham, a sophomore out of Aragon, is averaging 13.3 points, Half Moon Bay’s Marina Koloamatangi averages 11.3 and Dominique Bonaparte, another freshman from James Logan, is averaging 10.7 points per game.
CSM is getting the job done by passing the ball. As a team the Bulldogs average 18 assists per game, led by sophomore point guard Taylor Cormier, out of Mills. She is averaging 5.7 assists per game so far this year.
Even the CSM bigs are proving to be adept passers. Koloamatangi, a forward, is dishing out three assists per game, while center Corruyne Millet, a freshman out of Douglas, Nevada, is handing out two assists per game.
Defensively, CSM is dominating the opposition on the boards, outrebounding its three opponents by an average of 46-19. Elzy and Millet lead the team by averaging 11 rebounds per contest.
CSM’s next game is Nov. 20 against Merced.
Skyline
After losing their season opener, the Lady Trojans won two straight in the Mission-Santa Clara tournament two weeks ago.
Skyline was at Monterey Peninsula Tuesday night.
Stephanie Allen returns for her sophomore season to lead the Trojans. After earning First Team All Coast Conference honors last season, the sophomore out of Palo Alto is already off to a strong start this season, averaging 16.3 points per game. Alyssa De La Cruz, a sophomore from Burton-San Francisco, is second on the team in scoring at 15.7 points.
Arianna Sheehy, a freshman from Terra Nova, has already made an impact, averaging 12 points a game.
The Trojans have been putting points up in bushels. Their 86.3 points per game average is fifth in state.
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Men
Cañada
The Colts were poised to make a run at the state title again this season, after making it to the final four last season.
But the loss of two key players — returner Crisshawn Clark and USF-transfer Frankie Ferrari — caused the Colts to stumble a bit out of the gate as they lost their first two games before beating Modesto 82-66 last week.
Clark signed a letter-of-intent to play at University of Pittsburgh and is essentially redshirting this season. Ferrari is no longer on the Cañada roster.
The Colts still have the horses, however, to be competitive and successful this season as the roster is filled with names who are blasts from the past.
James Testa, who graduated from Carlmont in 2011 and played one year at Cañada in 2012, is back for his sophomore year and is leading the team with 16 points per game. Rodrigo Puliceno, a third-year sophomore forward out of Burlingame, is averaging 13.7 points and 7.7 rebounds.
Jacqui Biggins, a 2013 Serra grad, is playing his freshman year with the Colts and is filling up the stat sheet. The point guard is averaging 10.3 points, is second on the team in rebounding with 6.7 boards and is dishing out a team-best 5 assists per game.
Cañada will host San Jose City College at 7 p.m. tonight.
Skyline
The Trojans opened the season with an impressive 115-96 win over Alameda, but followed that up with a double-overtime, 100-98 loss to College of the Redwoods and a 72-69 loss to Solano.
Tavita Jimenez, a sophomore out of Serra, is off to a strong start this season, averaging 18 points per game, which is good for and 5 rebounds. Defensively, he is averaging 5 steals a contest.
Jimenez is far from a one-man show, however. He is one of five Trojans scoring in double figures. A pair of freshmen out of Mills are already making their presence felt. Wing Tyler Wright is putting up 16 points per game and point guard Robert Noland is averaging 13.7 points and 4.3 assists.
Skyline is currently tied for second in the state for the most points per game average at 94. Only El Camino-Compton is averaging 97.
Sophomore forward Seth Snoddy, out of Lowell-San Francisco, and Wright are the team’s best rebounders thus far this season, averaging 10 and 9 boards, respectively.
Skyline will play in the Mendocino tournament Thurday, Friday and Saturday.
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