Menlo School sophomore Ruiqi Liu is SBLive's Northern California Athlete of the Week (Jan. 30-Feb. 4)

Versatile guard puts up big numbers in three wins then earns bigger numbers on voting front to earn the weekly award

Ruiqi Liu often gets her first name misspelled. 

Perhaps not any more. 

Not after the basketball standout earned the prestigious SBLive Northern California Athlete of the Week award for her performances in three wins for the week of Jan. 30-Feb. 4. 

Liu, a 5-foot-10 guard, scored 71 points and added 30 rebounds combined in wins over Riordan (63-53), Harker (46-41) and Notre Dame-Belmont (47-40). 

She beat out one of the top sophomore boys basketball players in the state, if not the country, in St. Joseph Santa Maria's Tounde Yessoufou in one of the closets vote in SBLive NorCal AOW history with 11,476 votes to 11,341. 

Liu gathered 46.28 percent of the vote to 45.74 for Yessoufou. 

Ruiqi Liu (3), Menlo School, averages 15 points per game. Photo: Courtesy of Menlo School

We are currently accepting Northern California Athlete of the Week nominations. If you would like to nominate an athlete, please email sblive-social@scorebooklive.com or message us on Twitter or Instagram at @sbliveca.

Here were the other athletes who were nominated for the week of Jan. 30 to Feb. 4: 

Ryan Beasley, the senior boys basketball star at Dougherty Valley, had a combined 51 points and 18 rebounds in big wins over De La Salle-Concord and Dublin.

Sam Braun, the senior basketball player for St. Francis-Watsonville, had a combined 59 points in two wins, including a 33-point, six 3-point effort in a 76-70 win over Rancho San Juan-Salinas.

Alli Dioli of Half Moon Bay had two games of scoring 29 points and another 16 — all wins — to go along with 21 rebounds, eight assists and 13 steals.

Lloyd French of Downey-Modesto had 47 points, 22 rebounds, seven assists and nine steals in two wins last week.

Kellen Hampton, a sophomore from Moreau Catholic-Hayward, combined to score 55 points, grab 11 rebounds and add seven assists, six steals and three blocks in three victories.

Dylan Harms of Bella Vista-Fair Oaks had a combined 49 points and 28 rebounds in two victories.

Elizabeth Johnson of Orcutt Academy led her team to three wins by scoring a combined 69 points to go with 41 rebounds, seven assists, 12 steals and 10 blocks.

Charles Kosta of Palma-Salinas combined to score 57 points and add 13 rebounds, six assists and five steals in two victories.

Landon Lassahn of Santa Ynez combined to score 86 points and pull down 24 rebounds in three victories.

Zachariah Look, a basketball player at Arvin, had 41 points on 17 of 24 from the floor, and added five steals in a 66-43 win over Foothill-Bakersfield. In two other games during the week he combined for 36 points, 16 rebounds, eight assists and nine steals.

Leimana Makasini, a senior soccer player for Sequoia-Redwood City, had six goals and five assists in wins over El Camino (11-0) and Capuchino (4-0).

Jocelyn Medina of Pierce-Arbuckle broke loose for a season-high 55 points while adding 10 rebounds, seven assists and 12 steals in an 80-46 win over Durham.

Makena Nitao, a girls basketball player for Hillsdale-San Mateo, combined to score 47 points and added 10 rebounds, 11 assists and 10 steals in wins over Burlingame and Capuchino.

Fedrick Pernell, a basketball standout at Sacred Heart Cathedral, had a combined 46 points and made the game winning free throws in a 62-61 win over state-ranked Mitty and a 63-59 victory over Serra.

Jameelah Pharms, a junior on Stagg-Stockton, had a combined 50 points with 13 steals and 11 rebounds in wins over Bear Creek (64-11) and McNair (62-47).

Ronnie Roche, a basketball standout at Kings Christian-Lemoore, combined to score 75 points, grab 21 rebounds and block seven shots in three games.

Kenyah Stubbs of Hanford combined to score 63 points with 23 steals leading her team to two wins over Tulare Union.

Tai-Run Williams of Vanguard College Prep-Modesto combined for 60 points, six rebounds, six assists and six steals in two games last week.

Tounde Yessoufou, a sophomore at St. Joseph-Santa Maria, had a combined 68 points and 26 rebounds in two wins. Yessoufou averages 28.4 points and 11.0 rebounds per game.