Pitman standout Kaylin Randhawa helps lead Sac State to first NCAA Tournament appearance

Kaylin Randhawa’s Pitman High basketball career can be defined by one word: Work.

“She was always in the gym. If we started workouts at 9, she was in there at 8,” said Pitman athletic director Dustin Curtiss, who coached Randhawa during her time at Pitman. “And then after practice, she’d set up the shooting machine and she’d get extra shots in.”

That hard work paid off with a stellar high school career in which she started as a freshman and left Pitman holding 12 records.

And it paid off with a college career capped by the first ever appearance in the women’s NCAA tournament by her school, Sacramento State. The No. 13 seed plays No. 4 seed UCLA at 8:30 p.m. Saturday in Los Angeles. The game will be televised on ESPN2.

It was no surprise to Curtiss when colleges started calling. A 6-foot-2 guard with a long list of accolades and the work ethic to back it all up, Randhawa had what it took to be successful at the next level.

She averaged 14.5 points and 7.7 rebounds in her last three seasons at Pitman. Her dozen school records included career points scored (1,285), points scored in a season (457), career made three pointers (132), and career assists (229).

“That changed our program,” Curtiss said. “We were OK. Then she came in and established that workout routine, and for the next seven or eight years, we had girls that would all stay after practice. She changed our whole mentality of what it takes to play basketball and how to be a winner.”

After graduating from Pitman, she played three seasons at the University of the Pacific, where she appeared in 81 games. In her senior season at Utah State, Randhawa had a career year, averaging 11.9 points a game, scoring in double figures 18 times and scoring a career high 28 points against Cal State Fullerton. She appeared in and started 29 games. She was granted an additional year of eligibility because of COVID-19.

As a Hornet, she hasn’t missed a step.

Randhawa has started in 30 of the team’s 32 games and averages 9.4 points per game, third best on the team, and shoots one of the highest three-point shooting percentages (36%).

The move not only brought her back to California, it also meant family members, including her brother Amar who was an assistant with Curtiss at Pitman for many years, and her sister Parmine, who led the Pride to the playoffs in her first season as head coach, had the opportunity to watch her play.

Winning is also great, too.

She has helped her Sacramento State team to its best season in school history as the Hornets captured a Big Sky regular season championship, Big Sky Tournament championship and earned their first ever berth to the NCAA Tournament.

“It’s really awesome,” Curtiss said. “After their season started (her brother) … came back to me and he was like ‘They can be pretty good.’”

Randhawa set a personal milestone in Sacramento as well, recording her 1,000th career point in January.

With local family and fans tuned into the Big Sky Championship game on March 8, she didn’t disappoint, scoring a season-high 20 points and connecting on four-of-seven 3’s to help lead the team to the tournament title.

“There was people in the office at Pitman,” Curtiss said. “I was watching it … and then I started getting texts and emails from people. I texted her right away saying “Congratulations, we’re so proud.”

“I watched the game at school and I also DVR’d it. I went home and watched it again.”

Randhawa is no stranger to Pac-12 opponents. In her three seasons at Pacific she faced Arizona, Cal, Oregon State and during her sophomore season, started against UCLA, finishing with seven points and four rebounds.

“It’s really cool to see her playing well on TV,” Curtiss said. “It’s going to be really exciting to watch her play Saturday.”

Oakdale grad’s loud college debut: Oakdale graduate Amanda Bricker started her college softball career with a bang on the opening day of the Puerta Vallarta College Classic Feb. 9 against the University of North Carolina. In her first collegiate at bat for California Baptist University of Riverside, the freshman infielder blasted a home run over the center field fence, scoring the first run of the 2023 college softball season. The home run was caught on camera, posted on the CBU Softball Twitter account and immediately went viral, getting posted by many social media accounts, including Bleacher Report. So far in her freshman season, Bricker is hitting .321 with eight RBIs and one home run.

Local basketball All-Star game returns for 26th year: The 26th 6 County Boys and Girls All-Star games are scheduled for Saturday, April 29 in Modesto. The event will feature the top 24 players in the area. Players participating must be graduating seniors and have played on their high school boys’/girls’ varsity basketball team this past season.

Last season the game returned after a two-year hiatus and was played at Gregori High School. Kimball High graduate Giana Riley, who now plays soccer and basketball at Gonzaga, was awarded the girls game MVP and won the 3-point contest. Patterson’s Precious Nnaji won the slam dunk contest and Gregori alum Kyle Monk, now a guard at Fresno Pacific, won the boys game MVP.

MC alum shines at DII Championships: Nicole Warwick won awards as Modesto Christian and continues to shine at Azusa Pacific University. The 2017 high school graduate had a career day at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships as she claimed the individual national title in the pentathlon, was an All-American finisher in the long jump and ran the third leg for the Cougars’ All-American 4x400 relay team. Warwick was the national runner-up in the pentathlon as a true freshman in 2018 but battled with nagging injuries throughout her college career. She entered this year’s Nationals ranked No. 1 in the pentathlon.

After an All-American performance in the long jump, capturing the pentathlon title and helping the relay team finish fifth, Warwick is now a 10-time All-American between indoors and outdoors. She is the 15th athlete in APU program history to be a 10-time All-American.