07 Feb Salesian Girls Celebrate Senior NIght, Win by 66

Salesian’s quintet of fourth-year players were honored pregame, and the celebration did not stop when the game began.

Story and photos by Joe Porrello

Salesian College Preparatory High celebrated their girls varsity basketball senior night with a dominant 80-14 victory over Richmond High.

It matched the most points the Pride have scored and marked their largest margin of victory this season. Their previous high came over the Oilers last month in a 68-9 blowout. 

Salesian has now won three straight against Richmond High dating back to 2006. Though, being in different leagues,they had not played each other since 2008.

 

The Pride are unbeaten in Tri-County-Rock League play for 11 seasons, with a 102-game winning streak against league opponents since 2012.

Richmond High, in contrast, has lost 18 straight since last season by an average of nearly 40 points.

Before tip-off, Salesian honored their five seniors with a pregame ceremony highlighting each player’s accomplishments and aspirations.

 

Friends, family and fans celebrated the seniors with life-sized cardboard cutouts, professionally made banners and handmade signs.

The festivities did not distract Salesian. In fact, senior captain wing Jamia Sawyer says they are used to it.

“That’s just what we do over here — have fun and win league championships,” she said.

 

Jamia, who scored 12 points in this game, is second in team steals, rebounds and assists and one of only four North Section Division 4 players to have two double-doubles.

Contributing 11 points was her twin sister and senior captain wing Janiya Sawyer, who leads the TCRL with 111 made field goals, 73 assists, and over three steals per game.

“It’s really cool because we bring our chemistry off the court, onto it,” said Jamia. “We’ve literally been playing with each other as long as we can remember — I know what she’s going to do and she knows what I’m going to do.”

 

With the upperclasswomen taking charge — forcing a frantic pace to produce turnovers and high-percentage close-range shots — the Pride jumped out to a 20-0 lead just five minutes in.

Four seniors combined to score all but two of Salesians 27 first quarter points. 

Salesian shut out Richmond High then hit a barrage of three-point shots to go up 36-0. 

Senior point guard Vanessa Parilla amassed 50% of her team’s first half points with 18 of her game-high 20. She tops the NCSD4 in three-point shots made with 138 and is second in scoring at 13.1 points per game.

 

The Oilers remained scoreless until sinking one from long range more than midway through the second quarter — to loud applause even from Salesian fans. 

Richmond High scored again on their very next possession, and they went into halftime down 52-5. 

After the cheerleaders performed during the break, Salesian seniors surprised the crowd by showing off their own choreographed dance routine.

 

“It’s fun to be able to just have a good time with my team and not have to worry about losing so much,” said Janiya.

In the second half, Salesian took their foot off the gas and got substitutes into the game. All but one of the Pride’s 13 players got into the scoring column.

“We wanted to honor our seniors and play unselfishly, and I thought we did,” said Pride head coach Stephen Pezzola. “I was really happy with some of the players who don’t get a lot of minutes getting in and performing well — which shows we can be deeper in the playoffs.”

Senior 5-foot-3 guard Ada Mijares had missed extended amounts of time with injuries but was able to get on the court. When Mijares notched her first point at the foul line, the whole crowd erupted and her teammates swarmed her in jubilee.

 

“When she made those free throws, you’d think we’d won the NBA championship — and that’s just this team,” Pezzola said. “They look out for one another.”

With the matchup out of reach soon thereafter, game clock operators let time wind down, and Salesian came away celebrating their sixth win in eight games.

The on court play mirrored the squads’ rankings, with Salesian ranked 76 in California out of 1,394 teams; Richmond High, 1,192.

After winning 33 combined games over the past two seasons as part of the Tri-County-Stone League, Richmond High transferred to the TCRL and has been searching for a win ever since.

Their last chance this season came on their own senior night when they battled 14-13 St. Mary’s High on Thursday — the Oilers fell 54-18.

Salesian concludes their regular season with games on three consecutive days, starting with Wednesday’s. The Pride secured their twelfth straight league title Thursday with a win over Pinole Valley; the finale comes Friday at 10-12 St. Patrick-St. Vincent High. 

With as many first-year players as seniors and more underclasswomen than upperclasswomen on the roster, Janiya said she wants to leave her mark on younger teammates.

“I just try being a big sister to these girls and helping them out,” she said.

One of those is 6-foot-1 sophomore forward Oriannah Birden, who leads the TCRL with one block and 6.6 rebounds per game.

“I’m really proud of my seniors. The freshmen see how they play, and it’s just a great camaraderie — they play for each other,” said Pezzola. In his 15 years, the Pride have never experienced a losing season overall or in league play.