The Bagley and Harriel Show: 5-star recruits head Bee’s top-ranked basketball teams
He’s back for more, and so is she.
Welcome back, Marcus Bagley and Jzaniya Harriel.
The Bee’s Boys and Girls Basketball Players of the Year return for another championship chase, five-star recruits with plenty more to achieve.
The 6-foot-8, dynamic and versatile Bagley heads the Sheldon Huskies, The Bee’s preseason No. 1 team. The Arizona State-bound senior guard/forward powers the top-ranked team in Northern California, a program that seeks its fourth successive trip to the CIF Northern California Open Division finals and third-straight championship.
The 5-10 smooth, crafty and prolific Harriell is at the forefront for the Antelope Titans, a fast-rising NorCal power and the top-ranked Bee girls team this season.
A junior point guard, Harriel is the region’s only five-star recruit this season and the area’s first since Vicki Baugh of Sacramento in 2007 (the first was Denise Curry of Davis in 1975). Harriel was also a five-star recruit last season and returns after spending the offseason honing her craft.
Sheldon went 28-7 last season and returns a host of players beyond Bagley, who averaged 19.9 points and 7.9 rebounds and also was a playmaker from the high post. Other key Sheldon returners for longtime coach Joey Rollings include returning Bee All-Metro first-, second- or third-team All-Metro players Xavion and Xavier Brown and Josh Williams to go with other key players such as Pierce Davis, Yaru Harvey, Dontrell Hewlitt and Darren Tobias, each able to guard different positions.
Bagley’s motto has been, “I want to be great” – and he wants to lead a great team in a season of high hopes.
“I’m super excited,” Bagley said of this season. “The first week of practice went great. Guys are competing and everyone is locked in.”
Said Rollings, “We have a lot of experience, guys who have played in the state finals. We’ve matured even since the summer – making smart passes, taking good shots, still playing good defense. Marcus is healthy and looks great, and the rest are following his lead.”
Harriel averaged 23.4 points, 12.8 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.8 steals for a team that went 31-4 and reached the NorCal playoff rounds a season ago. Her college suitors include Stanford and others scattered across the country.
“My teammates, coaches, me and the entire Titan Family are extremely happy and excited about this season,” Harriel said. “The buzz around campus is about the unfinished business that we need to tend to, and that is to capture another section title and bring home a state championship.”
Said Antelope coach Sean Chambers of his star and his team, “Spectacular. (Teammate) Kaijia Lesane might be the second-best player in the area. Their collective goal vision is to win a state championship. We are very hungry. This is the hardest-working group I’ve been around in my 20 years doing this.”
OTHER BOYS BASKETBALL POWERS
No. 2 Grant has its best team in years and is again coached by Deonard Wilson. The Pacers include Davell Browb, AJ McGee, Jon Jon Schooley and Corey Yerger.
No. 3 Capital Christian has a new coach who is a familiar face in Matt Filer, a longtime program assistant who takes over for McCall Wollman, now the coach at Sacramento after beloved coach Earl Allen was let go last week as new athletic director Brady King makes sweeping changes.
Capital Christian’s top players include Jonah Alvarez, Caden Flowers, Evan Johnson, Sione Lose and Darrion Williams.
No. 4 Franklin and coach Ken Manfredi beat Sheldon last season once in Delta League action and graduated only two seniors. Star guard Davion Wright returns, as do steady cogs such as Jaztein Blackmon. The program welcomes Sheldon transfer Marquis Hargrove.
No. 5 Jesuit features five-star recruit guard Isa Silva, the program’s next great floor leader. Jesuit is in the Delta with Sheldon and Franklin.
No. 6 Folsom and coach Mike Wall return Tiler Fears, Malik Rose and Cameron Wall. The question is whether or not DeShawn Lynch returns after a first-team All-Metro season at center last season.
Lynch is a 6-4, 265-pound football star in the trenches and at tight end for a team that expects to make a CIF State Division I-AA championship football three-peat. He will wait to see how his body feels after football season.
Darius Kendall returns for No. 7 Rocklin in the SFL, and the area’s top returning scorer – Jalen Patterson – is back for more buckets at No. 10 Liberty Ranch, coached by former Christian Brothers coach Brian Chavez. Chavez takes over for Josh Williams, who led teams that won 27, 30, 22, 26 and 29 games in recent seasons.
GIRLS BASKETBALL POWERS
Antelope’s girls roster also includes Air Force commit Jordan Goodwin and sisters Angel and Angelina Jordan.
SFL powers Oak Ridge and Folsom are ranked second and third, respectively.
Oak Ridge coach Steve White has two college commits in Erica Ingram (Azusa Pacific) and Sophie Olson (North Dakota). Lauren Helwig, who was a part of the rotation last year, is committed to play soccer at UC Santa Barbara. Teagan Brown and Megan McConnell also return for the Trojans.
Folsom is led by junior point guard Charity Gallegos, who has been a starter since her freshman season. She will be joined in the backcourt by Annie Malekos and Paisley Specht, a transfer from Granite Bay. Folsom also returns one of the top posts in the area in Katie Harris, who is committed to play at Santa Clara.
McClatchy at No. 4 will be the favorites in the Metro League. Although the Lions lost top scorer Nia Lowery to graduation and to Washington of the Pac-12, the Lions return Samaya Beatty, who averaged 12.2 points and 7.9 rebounds a game.
Other returnees for coach Jeff Ota include Saray White, Mia Waki and Imani Felix, who all played minutes on a team that made it to the D-l NorCal semifinals.
Another team favored to win its league is Christian Brothers. The Falcons lost the D-lll section championship to Bradshaw Christian and in the first round of the NorCal playoffs was stunned by No. 16 seed Union Mine.
This year could be a banner season for coach Shandyn Foster. She returns star post Bria Shine, who is committed to play at UC Davis. Donnelli Allen, Karli Cooper, Anna Vishaj and Sarah Jackson, who transferred from Granite Bay, will also be key pieces for the Falcons.
Other players of note on Bee-ranked teams include Colfax’s Grace Bliss, Union Mine’s Alli McDonald, Grant’s Diamond Richardson, West Campus’s Gabby Rones and Del Oro’s Madison Parry.
The Bee’s Top 20
Preseason boys
(with last year’s record)
1. Sheldon 28-7
2. Grant 26-8
3. Capital Christian 17-13
4. Franklin 19-10
5. Jesuit 21-9
6. Folsom 26-7
7. Rocklin 27-6
8. Vanden 20-9
9. Sacramento 20-11
10. Liberty Ranch 29-4
11. Oak Ridge 19-13
12. Davis 17-9
13. Monterey Trail 18-11
14. Inderkum 20-9
15. Burbank 20-10
16. Whitney 19-10
17. Woodcreek 18-10
18. West Campus 23-8
19. Center 21-8
20. Del Campo 13-14
- Joe Davidson
Preseason girls
(with last year’s record)
1. Antelope 31-4
2. Oak Ridge 18-9
3. Folsom 21-7
4. McClatchy 28-5
5. Christian Brothers 21-10
6. Sacramento 25-8
7. West Campus 16-15
8. Elk Grove 20-9
9. Grant 17-11
10. Del Oro 23-7
11. Union Mine 23-9
12. Colfax 26-5
13. Bradshaw Christian 18-14
14. Whitney 19-13
15. Woodcreek 19-9
16. Placer 22-9
17. Laguna Creek 26-4
18. Franklin 20-9
19. Vista del Lago 21-8
20. St. Francis 13-16
- Cameron Salerno
