Eight Central Coast Athletic Association (CCAA) athletes are in the running for the Times Performance of the Week for the week of Jan. 22-28.
Voting is open until 4 p.m. Friday.
Rylie Jenkins has been steady for the Cabrillo girls basketball team all season, and she earned the Times Performance of the Week for the week of Jan. 15-21. Jenkins garnered 3,414 votes, 64 percent of the total. Mallory Branum of the Hancock College women’s basketball team was the runner-up with 1,756 votes, 33 percent of the total.
Santa Ynez center Ikenna Ofiaeli put up big numbers in a week in which the Pirates went one-for-three, splitting two Mountain League games and losing a non-league game to Valley Christian Academy. Ofiaeli scored a total of 65 points and snared a total of 38 rebounds.
Ofiaeli posted a double-double, with 25 points and 12 rebounds, in the loss to San Luis Obispo.
The win over Santa Ynez was a particularly big one for VCA, since it came against a team from a public school with a much larger enrollment. Robinson Maples led the Lions with 20 points as VCA ran its record to 13-4. Jacob Sanders scored his 1,000th career point at VCA with a free throw in that one.
Trailing by a narrow margin for a good part of the game, the Hancock College women’s basketball team rallied for a 71-63 win at Santa Barbara to remain in the thick of the conference race at 4-1 in the Western State Conference North Division. Season scoring and rebounder Khaelii Robertson-Mack led the Bulldogs with 27 points and eight rebounds.
The Santa Ynez girls basketball team stayed unbeaten in the Ocean League at 5-0 with a 44-38 win over Atascadero last Friday. Lexi Molera gave the Pirates a solid all-around game with 12 points, four assists, three rebounds, two steals and a key block.
Tony Morales also gave his team, the Santa Maria boys basketball squad, a strong overall game Friday night. Morales racked up 10 points, eight rebounds and five assists in a 61-54 Ocean League win at Morro Bay.
The Santa Ynez girls soccer team moved to 4-1-1 in the Sunset League with two wins last week. Keira Hazard notched a hat trick with three goals in one win and tallied once in another.
VCA’s Elle Mason amassed a total of 47 points and 37 rebounds as the Lions split four games at the Faith Baptist Tournament hosted by Ankeny, Iowa-based Faith Baptist College. She had a double-double in both wins, 15 points and 11 rebounds in one, and 19 points and 11 rebounds in another.
Prediction? Um, no.
The Baltimore Ravens were the favorites in the AFC championship game Sunday, but I just had a feeling that the Kansas City Chiefs, who just know how to do it when it counts most, would win.
My gut feeling hasn’t always translated to an actual outcome, but this time it did. The Chiefs shut down the Ravens and their star quarterback, Lamar Jackson, and won 17-10 to get into the Super Bowl.
I don’t really have a gut feeling when it comes to the outcome of the Chiefs-San Francisco 49ers Super Bowl. I’ve won exactly one March Madness pool. You can never count out the Chiefs, but the 49ers have proven that you can never count them out in this post-season, either.
Go Niners.