By MARTY JAMES martyjames.sports@gmail.com
Arianna Aguilar, a 5-foot-5 guard from St. Patrick-St. Vincent High School-Vallejo who averaged 15.6 points and 3.5 rebounds per game this past season, has committed to play on the women's basketball team at Napa Valley College, Storm head coach Paul DeBolt announced on Monday.
DeBolt also announced that Jazmine Fontilla, the 2020-21 and 2022-23 Napa County Girls Basketball Player of the Year, as selected by the Napa Valley Register, has committed to play for Napa Valley as a transfer from UC Merced. Fontilla, an American Canyon High School graduate, is a 5-foot-6 guard and was a redshirt this past year.
"We're amping up recruiting now. I will go in all week, this week, to try to keep us on track and see what we can do to get some more players," said DeBolt. "We're looking for eight or nine recruits. We got two of them. We're looking for some big kids.
"We recruit special kids. We're just looking for kids who want to play at both ends of the floor, go to class, be good teammates."
After taking second place in the Tri-County-Rock League, St. Patrick-St. Vincent, the No. 1 seed, went on to win the 2024 CIF North Coast Section Division 4 championship, beating John Swett-Crockett, 66-39; Saint Mary's-Albany, 67-42; Arcata, 57-49; and University-San Francisco, 60-40.
The Bruins (23-9 overall, 8-3 Tri-County-Rock League), the No. 13 seed, lost in the first round of the CIF Northern California Division II Regionals, falling to No. 4 seed Colfax, 67-66.
"There is a good basketball tradition there. They're competitive," DeBolt said of St. Patrick-St. Vincent.
Aguilar also averaged 1.5 steals per game.
"She's an excellent player. Good shooter. Good guard. Good defender. Good rebounder. Good basketball IQ. Team player. She's going to do really well with us, I know that," said DeBolt. "She's a really good all-round player."
Fontilla, a point guard, did not play this past season for UC Merced – a member of the NAIA's California Pacific Conference – due to a knee injury. Fontilla played point guard at American Canyon High, averaging 12.1 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.7 steals per game during the 2022-23 season for the Wolves (19-10 overall, 9-3 Vine Valley Athletic League).
Fontilla averaged 18.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 3.8 steals per game during the 2021-22 season for American Canyon (19-8 overall, 9-3 Vine Valley Athletic League).
"Really good guard. Solid distributor. She can make baskets. She can attack. Nice player," said DeBolt.
Rose Jamison, a unanimous first-team All-Bay Valley Conference selection as a freshman during the 2022-23 season, was granted a medical redshirt and will return for the Storm, said DeBolt. Jamison, a guard, played in only three games, averaging 8.0 points and 4.7 rebounds per game, this past season.
Jamison had surgery on her left knee on Aug. 16. She averaged 15.8 points, 8.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game her first year. She was named to the California Community College Women's Basketball Coaches Association 2022-23 All-Academic Team, the California Community College Athletic Association announced in a report.
"She went through all the protocols. She came back but something wasn't right, and her doctor pulled her again. She's been good this spring. She's been working out again. I think she's ready to have a big year," said DeBolt.
Also returning for NVC is Kamilah Tiongco and Alicia Johnson.
Tiongco averaged 6.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game.
Johnson averaged 4.8 points and 3.9 rebounds per game.
DeBolt has a spring class at NVC, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Starting next week, the class will also meet on some Wednesday nights.
"Just staying after it, trying to keep them focused this spring," said DeBolt.
The program's summer session will start on June 17 and will go Monday through Friday, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The Storm's Brooklyn Giles, who was named this year to the All-State team by the California Community College Women's Basketball Coaches Association and also All-Bay Valley Conference, signed a national letter-of-intent to play for Cal State LA, said DeBolt. Cal State LA is a member of the NCAA-Division II California Collegiate Athletic Association.
Giles was instrumental in helping NVC get to the playoffs both of her years in the program.
She was second in the state in defensive rebounds (266) this past season
Giles averaged 18.5 points on 51.0 percent shooting from the field, 14.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 3.0 steals and 2.1 blocks per game.
"She played guard for us all year. But we moved her sometimes a little bit closer to the basket where she could get rebounds," said DeBolt. "She's an excellent passer. She's fast. She's a good ball handler."
As a freshman, Giles was a unanimous All-Bay Valley Conference first-team selection after averaging 12.0 points, 9.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game.
Napa Valley (16-13 overall, 10-4 Bay Valley Conference) finished in third place in the Bay Valley standings this past season.
The Storm, the No. 24 seed, lost its first-round game to host San Jose City College in the California Community College Athletic Association Regional Championships, 83-45.
NVC had one of its best seasons in school history, going 19-11, taking third place in the league, advancing to the California Community College Athletic Association Championships, and winning a playoff game for the first time as they beat College of the Siskiyous, 92-80, in a Round 1 game in the Northern California Regionals in Weed in 2022-23.
The 19 wins by the Storm ties the program record for victories in a single season. The last time a NVC team did that was in 1991-92.
The Storm reached the Sweet 16 of the Northern California Regionals. NVC lost to host Santa Rosa Junior College, the Big 8 Conference champion and No. 2 seed in the playoff bracket, 81-39, at Haehl Pavilion.
* Marty James is a freelance writer who makes his home in Napa. He retired on June 4, 2019 after spending 40 years as a sports writer, sports editor and executive sports editor for the Napa Valley Register, a daily newspaper in Napa County. He is a 1979 graduate of Sacramento State and a member of the California Golf Writers & Broadcasters Association. He was inducted into the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Hall of Fame in 2016, the Vintage High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019, and the Napa High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2022.