Folsom boys and girls sweep SFL hoops tourney

With no playoffs taking place for any sport in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section this spring, the Sierra Foothill League wanted to give its members something extra to play for in such a trying season. The athletic directors in the SFL basketball department pieced together one last hurrah for their boys and girls teams in the form of a three-day, single-elimination league tournament. "It was important to be able to finish with a tournament that was the best measure of the best teams," Folsom coach Mike Wall said. "It was a great idea on a lot of different fronts and it gave everybody something to at least do something at the end. We got some fans in the stands. It was a neat deal… I would be in favor of this all the time." Top-seeded Folsom outscored Granite Bay 18-9 in the fourth quarter of Friday's boys championship game at Whitney High School to claim the SFL title with a 50-46 win. Senior Jaylen Wells scored 12 of his game-high 19 points in the fourth quarter to erase a five-point Granite Bay lead after the third period. "He's a big-time player," Wall said of Wells. "He's a difference-maker. He can do it in so many ways." Brycen Shackelford added 16 points to help Folsom improve to 11-1. Wall was impressed with Granite Bay, who went 2-6 in SFL play and lost to Folsom twice before fighting its way into the title game. "It took some playmaking by our guys to get through it," Wall said. "This speaks to why this tournament was important. We beat them by 30 or so in one of the first two games, but they're obviously way better now. This was a more true measure of what they were at the end rather than how they were at the beginning."Granite Bay was led by seniors Jack Milne (13 points) and Nick Poulos (11 points). The Grizzlies earned their spot in the final by taking down Oak Ridge, 76-48, on Wednesday and second-seeded Rocklin, 70-50, on Thursday. Milne scored 10 of his game-high 21 points in the third quarter against the Trojans Wednesday. Cole Harrison drilled five 3-pointers for 15 points while Poulos added 12 for the Grizzlies. Sophomore Jacob Olson led Oak Ridge (0-7) with 12 points. Poulos and sophomore Yaqub Mir each scored 22 points to lead Granite Bay past Rocklin, which had a first-round bye, in the semifinals. Jordan Flores led the Thunder (10-5) with 10 points, while Jimmy Summers, Nick Oh and Cole Gustafson netted seven apiece. Folsom blew past Whitney 78-47 in the semifinals behind 30 points from Wells and 15 more from Jake Thoensen. Whitney (6-3) was led by Elijah Brooks and Boston Graf, who both had eight points. The Wildcats defeated Del Oro, 71-52, in the opening-round game on Wednesday. Nick Tawney had 17 points, Anthony Jaques had 15 (five 3-pointers), and Carson Bennett and Jack Steinkamp each had 11. Del Oro (1-10) was led by Ethan Finn's 16 points and Luka Popovic's 14. Lady Bulldogs down Oak Ridge for SFL girls crown The Folsom girls defeated Oak Ridge on Friday at Oak Ridge, 63-46, to make it a Bulldog sweep for SFL hoops. Makayla Rose had 16 points while Charity Gallegos had 14 to lead the Lady Bulldogs. Top-seeded Folsom (7-0) defeated Whitney in Thursday's semifinal, 75-27, at Oak Ridge. Rose scored 14, Paisley Specht 12 and Charlotte Climenhage 10 for Folsom. Whitney (5-8) was led by senior Emmy Fowler, who scored 12 points in her final game. "We're all competitive, right? So, we want to play for something," Whitney coach Sydney Gatson said. "As grateful as we are to just get games in, there's nothing like the feeling of playoffs, especially for our young girls who haven't experienced this before, this was invaluable." Whitney's freshman duo of Sammy Schuler and Harper Peterson erupted from long distance in the opening-round 64-49 win over Granite Bay. Schuler had 26 points with six 3-pointers and the 6-foot-2 Peterson, who already has offers from multiple Pac-12 schools, had 20 with four triples. The two combined for 10 of Whitney's 14 3-pointers. "Harper is the most humble superstar I've ever known, almost too humble sometimes," Gatson said. "She has a really high basketball IQ, but I'm excited for her to feel empowered to use that voice on the court in order to lead and help the rest of her teammates. Sammy Schuler has been just a gem for us as well. We talk about that vocal leadership, she's really turned into something special for us as well. So, we're excited about those two freshmen." Granite Bay was led by Julia Riley's 17 points and Kendall Gray's 13 against Whitney. Katelyn Sitterud added seven for the Lady Grizzlies. Oak Ridge reached the finals by beating Rocklin, 68-44, on Wednesday at Granite Bay High School. Teagan Brown, who was last season's SFL MVP as a sophomore, led the Lady Trojans with 22 points while sophomore Mary Carter led Rocklin (2-5) with 17. After a tight first half on Thursday, Oak Ridge handed Del Oro a 56-44 loss in the semis as Brown tallied 18 points and was complemented by Ella Ray's 13. Del Oro (9-3), which had a first-round bye, defeated Oak Ridge earlier this season for the first time in their last 15 meetings dating back to 2011. On Thursday, Madison Butcher scored 12 of her 13 points in the first half. Megan Williams had 11 and Natalie Moulos nine in defeat. "We were fortunate for every game we got to play and thankful because at one point, we didn't think we were going to have that," Del Oro coach Shawn Huckaby said. "We're sharing athletes with AAU and other programs, so we just took a lighter approach this year and said 'Let's just get through it. Whatever it takes.' When you look at it from that perspective and what it could have been, we're really happy with how the season went."