College notebook: Three SSU basketball players earn All-Conference honors

Three Sonoma State basketball players were named to the California Collegiate Athletic Association’s All-Conference teams, which were unveiled earlier this week.

The SSU women’s team had two selections in senior forward Alli McDonald and senior guard Jayme Blackard, while the men’s team had one selection in junior forward Andrew Henderson.

McDonald, who hails from Diamond Springs, California, was named to the first team for the second consecutive year after averaging a double-double with career-highs of 16.4 points and 10.5 rebounds. She was also among the conference leaders in several categories: fourth in points, third in rebounds and fifth in minutes played.

Blackard, a native of Pittsburg, was an honorable mention selection, averaging 11.7 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game.

On the men’s side, Henderson was named to the second team. The first-year player for SSU who transferred in from College of the Canyons led the team with 11.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game while shooting 43% from the field. On the year, he had four double-doubles and three games scoring 20 or more points.

The SSU women finished their season Thursday with a 74-45 loss to Cal Poly Pomona in the first round of the CCAA Tournament. They went 16-14 overall and finished in the conference at 11-11.

The SSU men wrapped up their year last week with a 94-55 win over Cal State San Marcos in their regular-season finale. They finished 15-13 overall and finished just outside of a conference playoff berth at 11-11.

SSU men’s golf fourth at tournament

The Seawolves bounced back from a disappointing performance in San Diego two weeks ago with a fourth-place finish out of the nine teams at the Nighthawk Invitational at Callippe Reserve Golf Course in Pleasanton over the weekend.

All five players for SSU finished inside the top 30 individuals, led by senior Lucas Happy, a Casa Grande grad, who finished 1-over par for the two-round event to tie for ninth overall.

Cole Kroeker and Ryan Stewart each shot 3-over par, tied for 17th individually, while Colin Huang shot 5-over (T-22), Ivan Sablan 6-over (T-25) and Nick Friedman 7-over (T-28).

You can reach Staff Writer Gus Morris at 707-304-9372 or gus.morris@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @JustGusPD.