Both boys’ and girls’ teams advance to second round
TEMECULA — If Barefield wasn’t already a household name in the area for basketball, it surely will be after last night. The boys’ team at Rancho Christian, who won their first round SoCal Regional Division 1 CIF State game Tuesday, Feb. 28, is headed by a Barefield, and the girls’ team was led through their first round of the SoCal Regional Division 2 CIF State tournament that same night, by a Barefield as well.
Let’s start with the latter. With both teams playing at home, in opening round action, Tia Barefield, daughter of Coach Ray, showed off her downtown skills late in the game, which kicked the Lady Eagles into gear after struggling on offense early in their matchup against Crenshaw High School (20-8).
No. 4 seeded Rancho Christian (26-6) only led 25-20 at halftime, made 8 of 29 shots and had zero 3-pointers. They also had to deal with early foul trouble to two of their top players, Aaliyah Stanton and Jada Tiggett. It would be Shaylynn De Yager who would help carry the offense while Stanton and Tiggett battled through their foul troubles.
De Yager scored 12 of her 19 points before halftime and finished the evening with 19 points. It was halfway through the third quarter, though, that Barefield would take matters into her own hands when she told the media that she wanted to get up as many good shots as she could.
“My confidence grew with every shot I made,” Barefield, who scored all 21 of her points in the second half, said.
Before Barefield sank the game’s first 3-pointer with 5:33 in the third quarter, both were collectively 0 for 19 from downtown. Barefield sank four more long-range shots during the final three minutes of third period as the Eagles extended the lead to 54-32. She would drain six consecutive 3-pointers at one point, going from the third to fourth quarter and made a seventh later in the quarter to help the Eagles secure a 75-52 win.
Stanton would come back and score 13 of her 19 points after halftime. Tiggett had seven points and a game-high 17 rebounds. She also had four blocked shots in the first quarter of the game.
The Rancho Christian girls’ team would score 50 points in the second half, helping them advance their cause as they now get set to host No. 5-seeded Hart (29-4) in a second-round game Thursday, March 2, at 7 p.m. Hart beat the No. 12 seeded Imperial High School, 59-43, in their first-round matchup.
Rancho Christian’s boys’ team was firing on all cylinders out of the gate in their 89-72 victory over Carlsbad in first-round action of their Division 1 CIF State SoCal regional opener Tuesday night. The Eagles made 10 of 13 shots in the opening quarter and went on a 20-5 run to jump out to a double-digit lead, and never looked back. Senior guard Kollen Murphy was on fire for Rancho Christian (24-10), scoring a team-high 28 points, making 10 of his 12 shots from the floor.
Carlsbad (24-7) put up a fight though, collectively they made ten 3-pointers in the game as Jake Hall dropped 31 points for the Lancers, getting the visiting team within six points midway through the third quarter.
Rancho Christian had five players score in double digits for the win, which included Murphy, as well Kevin Patton Jr., who finished with 16 points and seven rebounds, Rodney Brown (13 points and 10 rebounds), Bailey Chambers (13 points) and Martin Gumwel, who added 12 points.
Rancho Christian, the No. 7 seed in the Division 1 regional, will travel to face the No. 2-seeded Bishop Montgomery Knights (27-4) on Thursday night. The Knights defeated No. 15 seeded Torrey Pines 81-53 in their first-round matchup. To follow all the bracket action, visit www.cifstate.org.
JP Raineri can be reached by email at sports@reedermedia.com.
