Athlete of the Week: Jefferson’s Grace Wang

Jefferson was playing shorthanded, with just 10 players in uniform, allowing Wang the chance remain on the floor despite the runaway score.

“We were just playing really quick, and that’s how I like to play,” Wang said. “Everything was just working.”

Wang was also fueled by seven made 3-pointers, five of them coming in the first half, which put her within range of the program record of 10. Even though she fell short of the 3s record, the pursuit kept the Grizzlies playing at a furious pace, allowing the sophomore to fill up the stat sheet.

Jefferson’s first-year head coach Emmett Whitfield said he suspected Wang might be in range of the record at halftime. Whitfield used the break to text Jefferson athletic director John Falabella to inquire about the program record. When he learned Wang was halfway there, he encouraged his Grizzlies to keep up the intensity in the second half.

“I felt bad for the other team, but I had to play her,” Whitfield said. “I can’t take that away from one of my players if she’s having a special night.”

In just her second varsity season, Wang was named a co-captain, along with junior Isabella Cordoza, who was out of action for the San Mateo game.

“Basically, Grace is our leader on the team,” Whitfield said. “She’s our captain, and she can take over a game at any point. She can hurt an opponent in shooting, and if they decide to guard her, she can hurt them with other things.”

Wang certainly showed her ability to involve other shooters. Eight different Grizzlies scored points, a new season-high. Junior forward Jerzy Gallegos added 25 points.

“I like passing the ball a lot because if my teammates are open, I like to pass it to them,” Wang said. “And rebounding, to me, is really important because I just like rebounding and going after the ball.”

As a 5-6 guard, Wang isn’t a prototypical rebounder. But she leads the Grizzlies in rebounds and has recorded double-digit boards in more games than she has double-digit points this season. Aside from her quadruple-double, she has tallied four double-doubles, including Dec. 13 against Gunn with 13 rebounds and 10 assists, while scoring seven points.

Wang is averaging a double-double this season with 11 points per game, and 10.4 rebounds per game.

“We still just laugh,” Whitfield said. “We don’t know how she gets these rebounds, but she does.”

Whitfield — son of former San Francisco Giants outfielder Terry Whitfield — is in his first year serving as a high school head coach. Now 28, he took over for Paul Carion, who stepped down after one season running the Jefferson girls’ program. Carion is now serving as the boys’ junior-varsity head coach at South City.

Wang occasionally cracked the starting lineup as a freshman last season but has started every game this season.

“She’s a special player and she’s only a sophomore,” Whitfield said. “Even the games that she doesn’t have those scoring moments, she does all the little things.”

Wang’s statistics were provided by Jefferson. Whitfield said Jeff’s official scorekeeper, senior Jazelle Dela Cruz, is revered as one of the best scorers in the league. Whitfield said he validated Wang’s quadruple-double stats by reviewing the game on video.

“Everything in that game kind of reminded me of Step Curry … in that sense just coming up, pulling up … just pulling up off balance,” Whitfield said. “Even if it was an off-balance shot, she just made it look easy.”