After making history, Riverbank duo named Bee’s Girls Basketball Co-Players of the Year
A new era of Riverbank girls basketball has arrived. Led this season by a senior and a sophomore whose friendship goes back a few years..
Livi Fernandez was a freshman playing on Riverbank’s varsity team with Taylor Macias’ older sister. A middle school-aged Taylor would often sit in on practices, watching the two work together.
“We always played together and played against each other and then we finally got to be on the same team,” Macias said. “It was good.”
Macias, like Fernandez, played varsity as a ninth grader and immediately made an impact. They worked together last year, leading the Bruins to their first playoff appearance since 2014. Their success continued this year.
After leading the Riverbank girls basketball team to back-to-back playoff appearances and its first section championship game since 1985, Livi Fernandez and Taylor Macias are The Bee’s Girls Basketball Co-Players of the Year.
Fernandez was selected to the TVL’s All League team as a freshman but did not have a full sophomore season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
When the two became teammates last season, they clicked right away.
“We would always play the same position and we would guard each other,” Fernandez said. “I got a feel for how she played and it just helped us out so much more. Having connections on the team … it was a lot easier for us in practice to join together and gather everyone else with us.”
Fernandez had her best season playing alongside Macias in 2021-2022, averaging a team-high and career best 19.9 points a game while earning Trans-Valley League’s Most Outstanding Player of the Year award. Macias earned TVL First Team All-League honors while averaging 13.3 points a game. The Bruins finished 19-7 and made the playoffs for the first time since the 2014-2015 season.
“I was nervous,” Macias said of playing on varsity as a freshman. “I didn’t know anybody. I knew coach and (teammate) Ava (Luu), and then I knew some of the girls from when my sister played.”
This year, Macias gained confidence and quickly became the team’s go-to scorer, averaging a team-high 15.8 points a game with nine outings of 20 points or more. The Bruins finished tied for the league’s top spot and Macias earned MVP.
“She was shy her freshman year, like they always are,” Fernandez recalled. “We had to break her out of her shell, but I enjoyed seeing her grow. When she started proving herself more and more in practice, how can you hold talent back? You can’t. I knew my time was up sooner or later. She’s still gonna carry the program.”
The pair transitioned seamlessly. Fernandez helped Macias get used to the high school game last season, and when it was time for Macias to blossom, Fernandez didn’t stand in the way. She made her impact in focusing on the details.
“I thought it was like a natural progression,” Riverbank coach Janelle Luu said. “There was not this adjustment period, it was more of the team is first and whoever’s rolling let’s get her the ball. And you know, some games it was Livi, some games it was Taylor … and that’s why this team went as far as they did. There was no ‘The ball needs to be in my hands.’ It was whoever’s hot, let’s find her. And I love that mentality.”
After finishing fourth in the TVL last season and gaining valuable postseason experience in a first round game against Capital Christian, everyone in the Riverbank program knew this season could be something special.
“Last summer, I had them all in the gym (teammate) Chancis (Gamez), Livi and Taylor and we did like a shooting drill,” Luu said. “In consecutive times, they knocked down 20 threes with one ball and one rebounder in two minutes. And that’s an elite shooting drill. And I’m just thinking with the guards that we have at this level with, we could do anything we want. And now they had a little taste of the playoffs and a little bit of experience. I said this will go as far as they take us.”
The Bruins started 8-0 and went 11-1 in TVL contests, with their only loss coming in a four-point defeat by Hughson. They beat the Huskies late in the season to finish the regular season as co-TVL champions.
They were awarded the third seed in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV playoffs and blew out their first three opponents, reaching their first section championship game in nearly 40 years. They also qualified for the program’s first ever NorCal Regional playoffs.
They had four players average 11 points or more and finished the season with 26 wins, the most in recent school history.
Everyone knew their roles and embraced them.
“We have the point guard, Chancis, the shooter, usually me and Livi drives a lot,” Macias said. “We just flow together. We just connect.”
Fernandez was the beginning of the Bruins’ resurgence, helping reset the culture and take the team from 4-19 in her first season to 26-5 by the end of her fourth. Macias is the program’s future. With two seasons left in her high school career, she will continue to improve while Gamez and post player Rayne Tago return next season.
“I’m gonna miss it,” Fernandez said. “This (program) always felt like a baby to me … and I’m glad to pass it to Taylor. I know this isn’t their last year.”
Fan Vote Girls Basketball MVP
The Patterson girls basketball team has bounced back from the COVID pandemic nicely. The Tigers reached the playoffs in back-to-back seasons while winning 20 games each year.
This year’s team finished 20-8 overall and third in the Central California Conference with a 9-3 record.
After losing its two leading scorers from last season via graduation and transfer, someone had to step up and this year, it was junior Siena Musson.
The fans rewarded her successful junior campaign, voting her The Bee’s Girls Basketball MVP. Musson came in first, earning 39% of the more than 20,100 votes in the poll.
The guard went from averaging two points in just nine games in her sophomore season to a team-high 13.9 points this year. She added 7.5 rebounds a game, good for second on the team.
A first team All-CCC selection along with senior teammate Rayna Manu, Musson scored a career-high 25 points in a non-league win against Los Banos and scored in double figures in 21 games this season. She also had seven double-doubles.
The Bee’s All-District Teams
First Team
Macie Vickers, Junior, Escalon
Vickers followed up a stellar sophomore season with an even better junior campaign. A TVL All-League selection, she averaged 14.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.6 steals per game. It was a historic season for Escalon’s girls team. In the Division IV postseason, the Cougars upset No. 7 Capital Christian and No. 2 Calaveras, advancing to the section semifinals for the first time in 43 years. Though they lost, they secured the program’s first ever state playoff berth. In the team’s five postseason appearances, Vickers averaged 21.6 points a game and had games of 27, 21 and 24 points.
Sara Davis, Senior, Gregori
Named the Central California Athletic League MVP, Davis led Gregori to league titles in two consecutive full seasons. The team also finished first in the league during the COVID-shortened season. A three-year varsity member, Davis led a senior class that finished 46-11 overall and 27-2 against CCAL opponents. In her final season, Davis averaged team highs in points (11.1), rebounds (8.2) and steals (2.1).
Alize Martinez, Senior, Johansen
Martinez narrowly missed averaging a double double for the second straight season and increased her scoring average for a Vikings team that narrowly missed the postseason. She put up 18.9 points, 9.2 rebounds, 4.6 steals and 4.6 blocks per game for the Vikings, whose 17 wins are the most for the program in nearly 20 years. Martinez finished the season among the Sac-Joaquin Section’s top 20 scorers and scored in double figures in every game. She finished the season with 16 double doubles and a 22-point, 11-rebound, 10-block triple double.
Chancis Gamez, Junior, Riverbank
The point guard of the Bruins’ most successful team in school history, Gamez was named the TVL’s Most Outstanding Player. She finished the season as the Bruins’s assist leader, averaging 4.2 a game. She also finished second on the team in scoring (14.3) and rebounds (7.3). Gamez scored in double figures in all but four games, had five 20-plus point outings and nine double doubles.
Madalyn Woodard, Senior, Gregori
Woodard earned CCAL First Team All-League honors for her role in helping the Jaguars to another league title. She averaged 6.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals a game on a team that shared the ball on offense and on defense held its opponents to under 40 points a game. Woodard helped lead the Jaguars to a No. 10 seed in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs.
Second Team
Sammy Lang, Junior, Escalon
A TVL All-League selection, Lang was the Cougars’ primary ball handler and distributor. The point guard did it all for the most successful team in the girls basketball program’s history, averaging better than 13 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals a game. Lang came close to securing a triple double three times this season, with her best outing coming in a win against Livingston. She finished with 23 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and six steals.
Emilie Snyder, Senior, Turlock
Leading the Bulldogs in scoring for the second straight season, Snyder scored 9.1 points and averaged a steal a game for the CCAL’s second place team. Snyder, an All-CCAL second team selection, helped lead Turlock to a narrow play-in victory over McNair.
Olivia Fiveash, Senior, Hughson
Despite missing the team’s final six games due to injury, Fiveash’s contributions to the Huskies didn’t go unnoticed. She averaged a team-high 15.3 points and 3.8 steals per game and earned TVL Co-MVP honors for her work in helping Hughson claim a share of the league title and a No. 5 seed in the Division IV section playoffs. Four of Fiveash’s five 20-point games came against TVL opponents, and she reached double digit scoring figures in all but one game she played in.
Maddie Yonker, Junior, Ripon Christian
The Knights advanced to the second round of the Division V section playoffs, where they lost to Bret Harte, a defeat that doesn’t look too bad as the Bullfrogs recently won a Division V state title. Yonker, a TVL First Team member for the second straight season, averaged a double double on the season. putting up 17.5 points and grabbing 10 rebounds a game, both team highs. She also finished with a team best 3.2 steals.
Grace McCauley, Senior, Orestimba
The Warriors’ leading scorer, McCauley averaged career bests in points (12.7) and steals (3.2) while leading Orestimba to their second straight undefeated league record. A four-year varsity player, McCauley helped guide the Warriors to a 42-1 record against Southern League opponents and made the playoffs in her three full seasons.
Honorable Mentions: Beyer: Kylie Kulina; Big Valley Christian: Trinity Beers; Central Catholic: Peyton Garrett; Ceres: Marissa Renteria; Downey: Gissel Cervantes; Enochs: Lindsey Strong; Gregori: Jaleena Shull, Savannah Pearson; Hilmar: Emily Cogswell; Hughson: Alexandra Gehrke; Johansen: Bethany Albarran; Modesto: Claudia Medina Mora; Patterson: Rayna Manu, Siena Musson; Pitman: Liz Webb, Dailynn Greener; Ripon: Kailee Inderbitzin, Makenzie Loechler; Ripon Christian: Reagan Van Der Hoek; Riverbank: Rayne Tago, Alexis Felix ; Escalon: Kelse Webster, Analise Silveira; Turlock: Alexis Goularte, Olivia Walker.
