Empire notes: Santa Rosa High grad has career night for St. Mary's basketball

Santa Rosa High grad Emily Codding had a career night Sunday as the St. Mary’s women’s basketball team beat Washington State 70-64 in Pullman. Codding, a sophomore, put up 17 points, six rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals. She didn’t miss from the floor all night. As a freshman, Codding saw action in all 31 games, averaging 3.7 points and 2.1 rebounds per game. The Gaels face No. 8 Oregon State in Corvallis at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Titans look to make good on ?expectations in soccer playoffs

Back in September, Tech High girls soccer coach Melissa Knoll was confident. “I think they know this is their year to win it all,” she said. The 18-0-2 Titans earned the No. 1 seed in the North Coast Section Division 3 tournament and are one game away from indeed winning it all. The Titans will face No. 2 seed ?St. Bernard’s at 1 p.m. at Rancho Cotate High on Saturday for the section title.

Anderson Valley boys in familiar territory in soccer playoffs

The Anderson Valley boys soccer team will find itself in familiar territory Thursday when the Panthers face No. 2 seed Jewish Community for the North Coast Section Division 3 soccer title. Anderson Valley is again the top seed, but this year they’d surely like to make good on that. Last year, they were bested by the No. 3-seed Roseland Collegiate Prep Grizzlies on penalty kicks. The title game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. kickoff Thursday at Anderson Valley High.

Cardinal senior athletes moving on

Four Cardinal Newman seniors are set today to sign national letters of intent to continue their athletic pursuits in college. Sean Flowers has committed to play baseball at the University of Nevada-Reno, Keely Roy is slated to play soccer at the University of San Francisco, Josh Thompson will continue his soccer career at St. Mary’s College and Ella Wright is set to play soccer at the University of Pennsylvania. The student-athletes will be celebrated on campus today.

Carrillo grad leads Santa Clara in round 2 of NCAA tournament

2016 Maria Carrillo grad Maddy Gonzalez leads the Santa Clara Broncos into their second-round game in the NCAA Division 1 soccer tournament against North Carolina State in Los Angeles Friday. The game is scheduled for a 5 p.m. kickoff. Gonzalez, a junior, has eight goals and two assists on the season. The Broncos advanced after beating the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee 4-1 in the first round on Saturday.

Flores leading the Bear Cubs

Santa Rosa Junior College freshman Maiya Flores is picking up where she left off. Flores is leading the 2-1 Bear Cubs women’s basketball team with more than 16 points per game in her first season since graduating from Cardinal Newman. Fellow freshman Shayla Newman, who prepped at Montgomery, is adding 11 points per game and freshman Jasmine Henderson, another Cardinal Newman grad, is averaging just less than 11. The Bear Cubs’ home tournament, the Caren Franci Crossover, was originally scheduled to take place Monday and Tuesday, but was postponed because of poor air quality.

Arms race among NBL quarterbacks

Rancho Cotate quarterback Jared Stocker and Cardinal Newman’s Jackson Pavitt, both juniors, are putting up phenomenal numbers heading into their teams’ respective postseasons. Stocker has thrown for 2,372 yards and averages 215 yards per game. He completes nearly 65 percent of his passes and has 23 touchdown passes and six interceptions. His quarterback rating is 117.

Pavitt is putting on a similar show. He’s thrown for 1, 991 yards, nearly 200 yards per game. He completes nearly 75 percent of this throws and has 24 touchdowns and three interceptions. Both junior have guided their teams into the postseason. Stocker’s Cougars, the No. 1 seed in North Coast Section Division 2, will host No. 8 American Canyon on Saturday and Jackson, whose Cardinals are the No. 1 seed in Division 3, will host Encinal on Saturday.

Kiech starts off strong for SSU

The Sonoma State women’s basketball team is 1-1 heading into its game Saturday at Point Loma University in San Diego. In the Seawolves’ 59-47 win against Notre Dame De Namur in the season opener, the team was paced by Sophie Northern who played at College of the Redwoods. She had 12 points. Cardinal Newman grad Kylie Kiech had eight points. Kiech tossed in 11 points and grabbed five rebounds in the Seawolves’ next outing, a 64-58 loss to Dominican Saturday. Ugochi Anudokem, a junior from San Jose, had a monster game: 15 points, 16 rebounds, five assists and two blocks. The Seawolves open California Collegiate Athletic Association play at home against Humboldt State 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 23.

You can reach staff columnist Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com.