Colfax made it a mission.
The past two times this team stepped on the court, the end result were losses. One was a foundation game against Del Oro, which does not count towards the overall record, but was a game it fell in 59-54 fashion. A few days later, Colfax faced powerhouse Carondelet out of the Bay Area, led by a legendary head coach in Kelly Sopak, and lost 57-36.
But both were to ranked foes in their respective regions – Del Oro is top 15 in the Sacramento area and Carondelet looks every bit like an Open Division team out of the North Coast Section.
So, as Colfax embarked to face another ranked foe in Whitney, it wanted to leave nothing to chance. A win was incoming. Plain and simple.
That No. 5 Colfax (1-1) got, as the two-time CIF NorCal champions in girls basketball dominated in a 66-29 victory over a fellow defending section champion in No. 6 Whitney (1-1).
“We were all hungry from our last two losses,” said Colfax senior Laurlyn Massick. “It was a special night for us. I think we were ready to just come out with a bang.”
The way Colfax roared out to a sizeable lead was incredible, particularly with the emotional night and pregame festivities.
Just two months ago, junior varsity head coach Jordan Duran passed away from ovarian cancer. Duran was a fixture at Colfax. Someone everyone could look up to. The greatest soul they could ever dream of being around. Duran used to drive from Grass Valley 10 years ago just to practice against Colfax before getting into coaching and giving back to the next generation. Even while battling cancer, there were times Duran was out there practicing with this group of Colfax players.
Monday was dedicated to her, her family on the court pregame while Simpton spoke about Duran in front of the crowd with emotions. So is this whole season, one where Colfax will carry Duran’s legacy in all it does and will wear the teal jerseys worn Monday to honor Duran in four more future games this winter.
“It was special to have her part of us and for the short amount of time we had her,” Simpson said. “But just the impact she has as a teacher and coach for female athletes. She even coached boys at Union Hill. She’s just a special person.”
Senior Laurlyn Massick, emotional with her teammates and coaches, was among those off to quite the beginning to this night.
The Franciscan commit scored four of Colfax’s first six points, led by the tenacious defense in Colfax’s vaunted press. And Massick was everywhere in that span – two steals, one block and an assist to Kaia Diederichs that forced Whitney into an early timeout.
Each time Whitney clawed back in the early going, Colfax had the equalizer. Five straight Natalia Benavidez points brought Whitney back within 12-7, excellent coaching from Sydney Gatson out of a timeout and execution to score against Colfax.
But Colfax is a different type of beast this winter, and now it has all of its pieces out there. It missed Madalyn Sigrist for portions of early November as she embarked on quite the run in cross country.
“It starts with defense, our defensive intensity,” Simpton said. “There’s a couple different things in our man defense we do depending who we’re playing and how we’re doing it. We just kind of started from scratch.”
Now, Colfax has all of its ducks in order and showed just that. A 16-9 lead after the first quarter – led by six points apiece from Massick and Diederichs – boomed into much more. It was 30-19 at halftime, then 55-27 entering the fourth quarter.
Simply put, Colfax has it all. Diederichs scored 10 first-half points en route to a 15-point outing in total, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. Two days after hitting 1,000 career points – she also has 100 career goals in soccer – Diederichs showcased just how special he is. The Westmont-bound soccer athlete who competes in five sports flew to eight steals, dished out seven assists and delivered some pristine passes down the court.
“She’s just an incredible athlete,” Simpton said. “I think no matter what field or court she steps on or any sport she does, she’s just blessed athletically. She shines in whatever she does.”
Maya Smiley finished with 10 points and numerous steals of her own. Sigrist scored 10 points and was charted for four steals and one block. Massick scored eight points and was a head of the snake defensively, six steals to show for it. Senior Juliette James, heading to Chico State, imposed her will inside with a couple tough baskets.
A huge revelation: freshman guard Belle Chu, who was highlighted as a player to watch before the season and lived up to that billing in this top 10 battle. Chu fired two deep threes in a row, then drew a foul and sank all three free throws to conclude the third quarter and make it a 55-27 rout.
Chu’s nine straight points had the Colfax crowd and packed student section chanting “She’s a freshman.” She was not done, though, and sank another three-pointer and registered a double-digit scoring total, too.
“She’s just a gym rat,” Simpton said. “She’s not afraid to shoot. She’s by far our probably highest three-point shooter. In all the drills we roll into, whatever group she’s in, they win.”
All poured everything into this first official win of 2024-25, one that will be the first of many, many more. And all will continue to pour everything into it for Jordan Duran, their inspiration and whose light will shine forever in this community.
“I think it was really special for us that we got to recognize her,” Massick said. “We got to play the sport she loved, too. I think that’s why we all went out so hard and stuff because we knew all our family was there. We just wanted to show how much we cared for her.”
Whitney, meanwhile, is 1-1 but was without one of its captains and star in senior Tylie Kitchen. The Sacramento Top 45 and All-Sacramento honoree – also a San Diego State softball signee – did not play for a second straight contest – would have made a difference, especially squaring off against James inside.
The two-time defending section champs are young in many spots but have the winning pieces, particularly when fully healthy. The last game was a massive win in 66-54 fashion over No. 17 Woodcreek. And there is senior Kendall Dykstra, who was guarded supremely tough all of Monday but still found her way to a couple of baskets. Utah State offered in the offseason.
