Daily Journal Athlete of the Week: Crystal’s Maile Bateman

In the fall, Bateman was a front-row player for a Gryphons volleyball team that captured the first CIF Northern California championship in school history, and went on to claim the Division V state volleyball championship. Now, she has a chance for a command performance after Crystal’s 53-45 win at Trinity-Weaverville in Saturday’s Division V girls’ basketball regional semifinal.

Sure, she should be exhausted. But to hear it described by Bateman — who finished the regional semifinal with 21 points and a game-changing seven steals — the outstanding guard is just getting started.

“No, I feel pretty good,” Bateman said from the postgame comfort of the Gryphons’ charter bus in snowy Weaverville. “That was a pretty exciting win for the team.”

Bateman is actually winding down her high school career. With no spring sport in the plans, she has, at most, two varsity games left to play. No. 7-seed Crystal will host Tuesday’s Nor Cal regional championship against No. 13 Oakland at 7 p.m. The winner of that game will garner a Nor Cal Division V trophy, and advance to the state championship game Friday morning at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.

Tuesday’s regional final will be a welcome homecoming after the weekend’s 275-mile drive to the Klamath Mountains to take on Trinity High School a charming little gold rush boomtown in the snow.

It was an exciting adventure for the team, considering they didn’t know if the game would even be played. Due to the weekend snowstorms in parts of Northern California, the Gryphons had some reservations about forging into the foothills of the Trinity Alps Wildness with unpredictable winter weather on the horizon.

The Gryphons left Friday for Redding, where they stayed overnight. Game time was changed from an initial 7 p.m. start to 3 p.m., to ensure plenty of daylight for their drive both to and from Trinity High School through the mountains. With road conditions expected to be potentially hazardous, players, coaches, administration and parents all rode the charter bus departing at noon from Redding.

“The health and wellness and safety is the No. 1 thing we’re thinking about, it’s the No. 1 priority,” Crystal head coach David Weinstein said. “Obviously we had families on that bus, parents on that bus … and obviously going to the game it was great timing because the roads were easy.”

The weather held off most for the westbound drive up State Route 299 through Shasta, Whiskeytown and Lewiston. It was during the last 40 miles on the northbound turn up State Route 3 toward Trinity that the snow started to fall. The new snowfall in Trinity was as though the Gryphons were arriving in an Ansel Adams portrait.

Off-boarding the bus in front of the high school over two hours before game time, the Gryphons suddenly found themselves in a winter wonderland. A snowball fight immediately broke out between Crystal sophomore Camille Antiporda and her brother Branden, a senior at Aragon, who was in attendance with their parents to root for the Gryphons. Crystal assistant coach Brittany Tackett quickly began building a snowman, and then another smaller snowman, which she named Gryphon and Baby.

“They need to be able to enjoy the experience of it all too, so I didn’t want to take that away,” Weinstein said. “So if they wanted to frolic or enjoy — and some of them had never seen snow before — I wanted them to enjoy it. … I was just happy for them to just be kids and enjoy that level of experience and not be distracted by the game they were about to play.”

The game itself turned into a defensive masterpiece by the Gryphons. Trinity committed 32 turnovers, 10 of them on Crystal takeaways. Bateman totaled seven steals while her guard counterpart, senior Jemma Lacap, added two. The duo combined for five steals in the first quarter, including both of Lacap’s, when the Wolves were hamstrung by 12 turnovers.

“Coming into the game, part of our game plan was to emphasize our press,” Bateman said. “We knew we were going to be able to speed them up, rush them, get them out of their zone a little bit with our press because we were super aggressive in that. One of our key points was to stay disciplined and let them make the mistakes and throw those balls out into passing lanes for us to get those steals. And we executed it great. It gave us great momentum. I’m so proud of everyone for executing that so well.”

The exciting showdown still turned into a nail-biter. The Gryphons led by 15 midway through the third quarter, and by 11 heading into the fourth. But after a landslide of fouls led to three Crystal starters to foul out with under three minutes to play, things almost went south for the Gryphons. Senior Raelyn Dela Cruz was the first to foul out with 2:41 remaining, then came Antiporda with 1:55 to go, and sophomore Riley Martin quickly followed with 1:47 left.

Trinity whittled it down to 48-44 with just over a minute to play, but Bateman and Lacap, despite hanging on for dear life with four fouls apiece, survived the final minute and helped secure the victory.

“They are two of the best on-ball defenders that I think I’ve ever coached,” Weinstein said. “They’re also just such great ball handlers ... that’s the two people we want. It was nice to have them both in the game, and they helped us down the stretch.”

Specifically, Bateman was clutch from the free-throw line. Overall, she shot 9 of 12 from the line, including 6 of 8 in the fourth quarter.

The fantastic finish made for a happy bus ride home. Although, while the game was being played, the snow outside continued to fall. While departing Trinity, the conditions were turning hazardous, with parked cars on the verge on being buried in snow, and a snow-chain checkpoint just past Industrial Park at the edge of town. Crystal’s charter bus did not come equipped with snow chains, but received an escort from a snowplow to make the return on State Route 299. A drive that took under one hour on the way to the venue lasted two hours going back to Redding.

“Right after we did all the handshakes, my assistant coach Anthony Jones said to me: ‘We’ve got to get the players out of here, we’ve got to leave right now.’ … I think that was smart because we got out of there and we got out of there safely.”

The lasting memory of the day will no doubt keep like a snow globe. A surreal road trip made perfect by a historic win, as Crystal now advances to the Nor Cal girls’ basketball regional finals for the first time in program history.

“Hats off to Trinity High School,” Weinstein said. “They coordinated with Caltrans letting them know our bus was coming up the road and had to help us get out. … They were so gracious as hosts. I had several parents of the opposing team come up to me and say safe travels back. … So, that was a really nice experience.”

With a win Tuesday, the Gryphons will have five players vying for a second state championship this school year. In addition to Bateman, Antiporda and Angelica-Reese Estrada also played for the Division V state championship volleyball team. Martin and freshman Isabella Greenblatt were both on roster in the fall of 2023 with the Crystal girls’ cross-country team that also brought home a CIF Division V state championship.