Instant combustion! San Ramon Valley's girls implode past Carondelet for 4th straight EBAL crown

A combined 51 points over two quarters lifts the public-school power to their 10th straight win overall and ninth consecutive over the defending California Division 1 champions

San Ramon Valley's girls basketball team poses after winning their fourth straight EBAL title with a 70-49 home win over Carondelet / Photo by Eva Bowes

DANVILLE, Calif. — Tick, tick, tick.

One minute the game is tight. In the balance. Up for grabs. 

The next moment. … Kaboom! San Ramon Valley’s girls basketball team is off and kabooming. 

The state’s No. 8 squad, a fleet, skilled, relentless bunch connected with dribble drives, defense and shooting, raced past California’s No. 14 team Carondelet 70-49 in Friday’s East Bay Athletic League playoff final at a loud, enthusiastic and packed San Ramon Valley gymnasium. 

Tied at 19-19 midway through the second quarter, the Wolves (24-3) exploded for 17 points over the next 3 minutes, 30 seconds to key their fourth straight league crown and ninth straight win over the defending state Division 1 champions, coached by one of the nation’s most accomplished coaches Kelly Sopak. 

San Ramon Valley sophomore Kaitlyn Mills goes up for two of her six points in a 70-49 win over Carondelet Friday in Danville. / Photo by Jeff Chambers

Junior guard Hania Bowes, the younger sister of Sofia Bowes (now at Cal), drilled four three-pointers, made all seven of her free throws and scored a game high 23-points. That was backed up by 20 from San Francisco Chronicle 2024-25 Metro Player of the Year Ella Gunderson and 12 points and 10 rebounds by San Jose State-bound Alyssa Rudd. 

Carondelet (23-5), a rugged, skilled, well-coached unit led by 17 from Niylah Christiopher, 10 from Olivia Smith and nine rebounds and eight rebounds by Layla Dixon, closed a 41-26 halftime deficit to eight entering the fourth quarter. 

51 points in 2 quarters

But these Wolves detonated once more with 24-fourth quarter points, keyed by three buckets each from Gunderson and Rudd to win going away. Between the second and fourth quarters, SRV piled up a cool 51 against a defense that before Friday gave up just 43.4 points per game. 

San Ramon Valley star junior guard Ella Gunderson dribbles left against Carondelet sophomore Niylah Christopher in the Wolves' 70-49 win in the East Bay Athletic League playoff championship. / Photo by Jeff Chambers

The Wolves, who beat Carondelet 58-48 in Concord on Jan. 9, imploded for eight more points than that in just 16 minutes.  

“They are a damn good team and frankly have been better than us for a while,” Sopak said. “I would be more upset if we lost a single game to an inferior team. They are an elite level high school team on both sides of the ball.” 

High praise from a coach who has won 539 games in his 21-year career with three different teams while also leading the nationally-recognized Cal Stars AAU program. Amongst his prized pupils is Sabrina Ionescu, whom he coached well before they joined forces at Miramonte-Orinda High School. 

“He’s forgotten more about coaching than I even know,” SRV coach John Cristiano said of Sopak. “He’s a hell of a coach.” 

Don’t let Cristiano “ah shucks,” you. 

Building a public-school program

San Jose State bound Alyssa Rudd goes up for two of her 12 points to go with a game-high 10 rebounds in Friday's 70-49 San Ramon Valley win over Carondelet for the EBAL playoff championship in Danville. / Photo by Jeff Chambers

In his 10th season after taking over for former Cal and overseas professional player Randy Duck, Cristiano and staff have rewritten the book on building a public school team through tireless work, endless fun and non-stop skill development.  

Taking cues and advice from some of the Bay Area’s top teachers, including Pinewood-Los Altos Hills’ Doc Scheppler, Mitty’s Sue Phillips and Sopak himself — private school teams all — he’s built a juggernaut that has gone 222-36 since 2017-18, winning at least 26 games every season except an 11-0 pandemic-shorted season in the spring of 2021. 

Besides an aesthetically-pleasing, fast-paced, share-the-ball, high scoring brand of play — the Wolves average 74.7 points per game while giving up just 37.4 — Cristiano has built a fun, inspiring, joyful culture that is embraced equally by the youth and adult Danville-Alamo community. 

After Friday’s game, countless pre-teen boys and girls approached the Wolves offering specialized hand shakes, high fives and general good vibes. Cristiano introduced the media to a younger sister of injured starter Carly Stern while showing off a bracelet she made for the 50-something coach. 

“She made it before last season and I haven’t taken it off since,” Cristiano said. “And we’ve won more than 50 games. It’s been good luck.”   

Hoop, heart influencers

John Cristiano (left) in his pink shows against Carondelet's 500-plus win coach Kelly Sopak / Photo by Mitch Stephens

Cristiano says he gets bombarded — gleefully so — with comments from community members lauding the Wolves on their inside work — not the kind involving post moves or fastbreak layups. 

“As proud as I am of our girls for what they do on the floor, the most pride I get are emails that I receive from complete strangers or when I’m at a restaurant here in town and someone comes up to me and says, ‘Are you the coach of the San Ramon Valley women’s basketball team?’ “ Cristiano said. “And I say ‘yes,’ and they go to tell me a story about how their daughters were influenced or touched by our kids at a summer camp or in a store or somewhere on the street, and how it really meant a lot to them. I get those (comments) all the time.” 

Asked when he last received one and he said at “Norms restaurant,” that very morning. He also got an email later in the afternoon from another stranger who wanted their daughter to come to Friday’s game because “they met one of our players over the weekend and they wanted to come watch her play.” 

If they did, they watched the Wolves, normally clad in green, white and gold, all in pink, a homage to breast cancer awareness month. Before the game the referees were going to give SRV a technical foul for not wearing home whites, but common sense and a bigger view prevailed. 

Cristiano said the Wolves have broken out the bright pink jersey a couple times this month — as well as his own sweet pink pair of Under Armour sneakers — which may help explain their absolute domination over very likely four other section playoff teams: Dougherty Valley-San Ramon (85-20), Monte Vista-Danville (95-22), Pinewood (70-37) and California-San Ramon (85-27). 

Buckling down

Ella Gunderson helps to cut down the net after San Ramon Valley wins EBAL playoff title for the fourth straight year / Photo by Eva Bowes

Finally in a close game Friday, the Wolves didn’t buckle. 

Tied at 19, Bowes drilled a trio of 3s, Gunderson blocked a shot at one end, dribbled the length of the court and recorded an and-one at the other. She also drilled a couple of midrange jumpers and a 3. Impressive 6-foot freshman Presley Uchikura finished off the run with a layup. 

Just like that, the score was 36-20 and the Wolves were gone. 

“Even though it was a tight game in the second quarter, I knew we hadn’t even got started yet,” Cristiano said. “Once the engine started, I knew we were going to keep going.” 

Gunderson said they Wolves fed directly off the big crowd. 

“It was like the first day where we had a full student section and we were able to feed off that,” she said. “Then with every steal, every block, every bucket, there was more and more energy.” 

Said Rudd: “That first quarter was a little rough and we were fouling too much. But that second quarter (and fourth) we definitely picked it up. We were on our game, working together. Our defense was locked in and we really passed the ball.” 

Running on empty

The Wolves pose following their 10th straight win of the season and 24th overall / Photo by Ava Bowes

Rudd, the team’s leading rebounder who stands only 5-8, didn’t get going offensively until late in the third quarter and the fourth. She said where the points come from makes no difference. 

“We just all care about each other so much,” she said. “We just want to succeed. I mean winning at the end of the day is the most important thing. We’re always there for each other.” 

The Cougars, who outscored SRV 12-5 in the third, were there for each other also, but “Digging ourselves out of that hole, we had to exert too much energy in that third quarter,” Sopak said. “We played a great third quarter to make it a decent game, but we just ran out of gas.” 

They’ll likely have another chance at the Wolves next week when both will be part of the North Coast Section Open Division. They’ll almost assuredly be the top two seeds — brackets will be announced on Sunday — setting up a possible third meeting this season between the teams. 

“The only saving grace was the last time we beat them was for the section Open title (69-49 in 2022),” Sopak said. “Maybe we can get back there again and do it again.”