Skyline's Arianna Sheehy earns scholarship to La Sierra

When Sheehy took up basketball in third grade, at the recommendation of her AYSO soccer coach Ken Walker, it seemed unlikely she would survive playing long. Due a birth defect caused by her mother’s embryotic band wrapping around her wrist, she was born without a right hand.

“I’m pretty surprised that I’ve made it this far,” Sheehy said. “But I’m really excited for the opportunity and to continue playing.”

Basketball quickly became Sheehy’s first love. She played both hoops and soccer until she reached high school where she had to choose between the two at Terra Nova. For her, it was a fairly easy decision. And she went on to quite a prestigious career, playing four years of varsity basketball, averaging double-digit scoring in each her junior and senior seasons, including a team-best 14 points per game as a senior in 2014-15.

Sheehy had ambitions of playing for a four-year school even then. During her senior year, she gauged the Division II waters by attending an open tryout at Sonoma State.

“When I was in high school, I really wanted to play college basketball,” Sheehy said. “I went to try out at Sonoma State and ended up twisting my ankle. So, my mom and I decided it would be better to go to Skyline for two years and try to transfer somewhere after that.”

As a freshman at Skyline, Sheehy only received four starts but saw a significant amount of playing time off the bench. Considering herself foremost a defensive specialist, she paced the Trojans with 1.6 steals per game. As a sophomore, that number spiked to 2.5 steals, ranking second in the Coast Conference North as Skyline earned its third consecutive postseason berth.

Her playing time spiked as well. Sheehy started all 28 of Skyline’s games, and was the team’s second most proficient scorer. Sophomore guard Victoria Langi — an Oceana graduate, who will be transferring to University of Alaska Anchorage next season to play with her younger sister, Sala — paced Skyline with 15.9 points per game.

Sheehy proved an adept ball handler. While she predominantly dribbles to her left, she continues to develop a crossover step to keep defenders on their toes.

“My opponents always underestimate me because they think I can’t go to my right, so when they do that I’ll cross over and go to my right,” Sheehy said.

In fact, Sheehy is so smooth, sometimes people don’t even notice her disability on the floor. She said she has never been asked about it by an opponent. And it was even news to one of her own coaches this season.

“One of my assistant coaches this year, he didn’t notice until five practices after he arrived,” Sheehy said. “And I thought that was weird because I’m always going left.”

CSM secures two NAIA transfers

College of San Mateo women’s basketball head coach Michelle Warner is optimistic all six of the sophomores on roster in 2016-17 will transfer to four-year schools, and saw the first crop commit last month, both accepting full scholarships to NAIA programs.

Corryne Millet, a 6-1 center out of Douglas High School-Nevada, will transfer to College of Saint Mary in Omaha, Nebraska, a program that also boasts the acronym CSM. Millet averaged 12.8 points and 7.7 rebounds per game this season.

“The offer they had on the table for me was too sweet to pass up,” Millet said. “So I had to take that one.”

Dominique Bonaparte, a 5-8 guard out of James Logan-SF, has committed to transfer to Sterling College in Sterling, Kansas. The sophomore averaged six points per game this season and was one of CSM’s top defenders, ranking second on the team with 1.9 steals per game.

“For me, I wanted to go into athletic training and they have one of the best programs in the nation,” Bonaparte said.

Other CSM sophomore expected to make transfer decisions soon are point guard Bella Mercado (Hillsdale), guard Gabby Jajeh (Mercy-SF), center Mariah Elzy (James Logan) and forward Aleah Lauti (Burlingame).

Of CSM’s three sophomores from 2015-16 — Megan Pham, Taylor Cormier and Marina Koloamatangi — all three transferred to four-year programs, though Pham opted not to play to accept an academic transfer from University of San Francisco.

“It’s good to see the tradition continuing,” Warner said. “I’m anxious to see the other four make a decision so we can be complete.”