San Ramon Valley girls get mad, get revenge in CIF NorCal Open playoff opener over Carondelet

CONCORD, Calif. — The range of emotions were as wide as the Pacific and as fleeting as a scroll down Instagram.

“We were completely down and then it was absolutely excitement,” said San Ramon Valley freshman post Presley Uchikura. “Our whole mindset shifted.”

Said senior forward Alyssa Rudd. ““We were mad. We were really upset.”

All was in reaction to the news Sunday that the Wolves had a rematch with arch-rival Carondelet, just one day after suffering a crushing 50-49 defeat to the Cougars in the North Coast Section Open Division finals.

High school girls basketball — San Ramon Valley freshman Presley Uchikura (3) and Alyssa Rudd (21) battle Niylah Christopher for a rebound in this 2026 NorCal Open Division opener at Carondelet. | Photo by Jeff Chambers

The Wolves had completely shifted the tide on this rivalry, with eight straight wins after Carondelet had trounced San Ramon Valley for 11 years and 21 straight games. We’re talking shellackings: 72-22, 95-31, 80-16 and 108-50.

CIF REGIONAL BRACKETS | Boys and girls

But San Ramon Valley scored the biggest of its eight wins on Feb. 13 for the East Bay Athletic League title, winning 70-49.

Body language

With an experienced core and one of the state’s top 10-ranked teams, the Wolves seemingly had their second straight NCS Open Division locked in the bag.

Not so. The defending state Division 1 champion Cougars, led by their fearless coach Kelly Sopak, convinced his girls they were more than capable of beating the formidable Wolves, and backed it up, keyed by a 14-0 second-quarter run to shock their rivals about 10 miles to their southwest.

“Our body language was horrible,” Rudd said. “We weren’t knocking down our shots. We kept getting down on ourselves. We lost by one point. We just knew that it wasn’t our night.”

So once rematch was scheduled for the next level up — the Northern California Open Division playoffs — the Wolves were pumped. Right?

Uchikura certainly was. Rudd felt something else entirely.

CIF High school girls basketball — San Ramon Valley's Alyssa Rudd dribbles past two defenders in Wednesday's 51-44 win at Carondelet in the a CIF Northern California Open Division opener. Rudd had 13 points and 12 rebounds. | Photo by Jeff Chambers

"Everyone was asking me, ‘aren’t you excited for this (Wednesday’s) game?’ and I was like, ‘Yes, but I’m also, like, mad, and I just want to take out all my anger that I have on them and give everything I have,” she said. “My teammates did a great job at doing the same thing. They wanted it just as much as I did.

“Our mental game had to be our physical game. We had to fix that in order to beat them.”

It got fixed.

Thanks in part to a career night from Uchikura, the Wolves wiped out some real pain and heartache from four nights earlier with a 51-44 payback win before a jammed, raucous, evenly-divided crowd to move into Saturday’s semifinal against nationally-ranked Archbishop Mitty.

Freshman sensation

Uchikura, a strong, athletic and determined 6-foot-1 post, whose mother and father both played college volleyball, not only scored a game-high 16 points, but she had three blocks to go along with 10 rebounds and rugged defense in the fourth heated meeting between the East Bay Athletic League rivals.

Rudd, the EBAL MVP, and Ella Gunderson had 13 points apiece, helping the Wolves thwart a 9-0 Carondelet run to start the fourth quarter and 10 points from the Cougars’ Layla Dixon and a combined 17 by Niylah Christopher and Janel Nevares.

Sharpshooting San Ramon Valley junior guard Hania Bowes, cold in the early going, drilled a three-pointer and two free throws down the stretch, but it was three big interior buckets by Uchikura in the fourth quarter that kept Cardondelt from ever taking the lead.

High school girls basketball California — San Ramon Valley leading scorer Ella Gunderson (20) with two of her 13 points in Wednesday's 51-44 win at Carondelet for the CIF Northern California Open Division opening victory. | Photo by Jeff Chambers

The Cougars came within one point at 8-7 and 38-37 but the Wolves would not wilt or relinquish the lead after opening the game with a 6-0 run on a driving layup by Gunderman, two free throws by Uchikura and a turnaround jumper by Rudd, who at only 5-8, has piled up more than 1,700 points and 1,100 rebounds in her four year career.

She’s signed at San Jose State next year.

“Presley sometimes struggles with her confidence,” San Ramon Valley coach John Cristiano said. “The confidence her teammates have in her is strong. They kept telling her ‘Presley, go do your thing.’ She went out and did her thing.”

Said Rudd of Uchikura: "She always brings so much energy, whether it's in practice, before practice, in film, like everywhere. She just has so much passion and just wants every to succeed. ... I'm so excited to see what she gets, where she goes in life, and how much better she gets."

Uchikura said she didn’t necessarily take over: “The heat of the game took over. I was just feeding off the energy of the crowd and my teammates and just knew that we were going to come out on top.”

Cristiano says it goes beyond her game and skill set.

Spectacular

“It’s very difficult to find somebody that is as good a teammate as she is, as coachable as she is, as kind as she is and is willing to work as hard as she does,” he said. “Then take all of the gifts that God has given her. She’s just learning the game. I mean, she’s going to be spectacular.”

Carondelet coach Kelly Sopak, also the founder and coach of AAU powerhouse Cal Stars, reluctantly agrees.

“She’s a rare player around here,” he said. “We’re going to have to deal with her for a number of years. She’s special.”

The Wolves (26-4) won the first two games over Carondelet this season handily including 70-49 on Feb. 13 for the league playoff championship, but that might have fed into Saturday’s rather shocking 50-49 loss to the Cougars at Dublin High School for the North Coast Section Open Division championship.

It was one of four main goals set before the season by the Wolves, the defending NCS Open champs, which Sopak had described as “elite” and “special.”

As the defending state Division 1 champions, the Cougars are no slouches. It’s just that the Wolves had more coming back and seemed to have the upper hand mentally, if not physically, with eight straight wins in the series.

Uphill battle

But the Cougars (25-6) didn’t think Saturday was by any stretch a fluke.

They were just as determined to prove that it wasn’t. And though they battled uphill all night, they fell just short on Wednesday. The 9-0 run to start the fourth featured three-pointers by Navares and Thalla Pham.

But Gunderson answered with a turnaround jumper, then Uchikura went for back-to-back hard drives in the lane and buckets.

Asked the difference between the two games, Sopak said: “On Saturday, we made big shots and they missed big shots. Today we missed big shots and they made big shots. Saturday night, we answered everything. Tonight, we didn’t have the answers.

“I mean, if you think about it, we were just a couple baskets away from where we were from the other night. And we gave up one more basket. That’s the difference. It was the first one to 50 and we got there Saturday and they got there tonight.”

Mitty ahead

Now the Wolves get Mitty and many will love to see Uchikura against McDonald’s All-American McKenna Woliczko, a 6-2 wing. Mitty and San Ramon Valley played in preseason scrimmage and it was pretty even.

But Woliczko didn’t play, still recovering from a torn ACL she suffered in January of 2025.

“Presley is gonna get to play McKenna, kind of a changing of the area’s best player,” Cristiano said. “The future of basketball is right there, because that girl (Uchikura) is going to be a superstar.”

As far as playing Mitty, Cristiano said: “I’m so excited. I can’t wait. (Mitty coach) Sue Phillips and I are friends. We talked the other day. I’m such a fan of hers. She’s been such a wonderful mentor to me. I don’t know how the game will turn out, but I’m just so honored to be able to go and play there with her and her kids and my girls.”

Said Rudd: “We are about to go play the top team in the nation. I mean, they have the best players and they’re an amazing team. We just have to give everything we have for that game. It’s just going to come down to who wants and gives more.”