I was sent a link to this Washington Post story on Easter Faafiti, a partially-deaf basketball player who graduated from Pittsburg High, and thought it was worth passing along. Easter is now at Gallaudet University, a Division III school in Washington for deaf and partially-deaf students, where she is leading the resurgent women’s basketball team. It’s a good read.

She was also featured in last week’s Sports Illustrated “Faces in the Crowd” section.

Also receiving votes: Hercules (14-8, 1 point), Heritage (15-7, 1), Monte Vista (14-7, 1), Oakland Tech (11-7, 1). The East Bay Prep Girls Basketball Poll is voted on by the prep sports staff of Bay Area News Group-East Bay. Records are through Saturday.

A three-person California Interscholastic Federation appeals committee unanimously upheld a decision made by North Coast Section commissioner Gil Lemmon to deny Berkeley High senior Khristina Hunter eligibility in basketball this season.
Both Lemmon and Spencer Smith, an attorney representing the Hunter family, confirmed the ruling.
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Others receiving votes: None. The East Bay Prep Girls Basketball poll is compiled from the votes of Bay Area News Group-East Bay staff writers. Records are through Saturday.

EDIT: The missing girls names have finally been added. Sorry for the confusion -SH

The nomination list for the annual McDonald’s All-American games is out and it includes several East Bay locals. Of the 2,500 nominees from across the country, 24 boys and 24 girls will be selected to participate in the games, scheduled for March 30 at the United Center in Chicago. Final team rosters will be announced on Feb. 10 at 2:30 on ESPNU. Check out the McDonald’s All-American game website for more info. Here’s a list of the locals:

Boys
Dominique Taplin, Oakland High
Jabari Brown, Oakland High
T.J. Taylor, Oakland High
Brendan Keane, St. Joseph Notre Dame
Mark Tollefsen, San Ramon Valley
Chris Read, Castro Valley
Roderick Bobbitt, Castro Valley
Juan Anderson, Castro Valley

Girls
Saidah Allen, Piedmont
Cody Sims, St. Mary’s
Emily Vann, St. Mary’s
Rayven Brooks, Dougherty Valley
Raven Fox, Deer Valley
Brittany Boyd, Berkeley
Deanna Calhoun, Albany
Erica Payne, Carondelet

Others receiving votes: Monte Vista (9-5, 6 points), Piedmont (8-6, 4), Alameda (8-5, 3), Dublin (10-3, 3), Livermore (10-4, 3). The East Bay Prep Girls Basketball poll is compiled from the votes of Bay Area News Group-East Bay staff writers. Records are through Saturday.

Here’s something that may be of interest to local girls basketball players. Alana Beard, a WNBA All-Star with the Washington Mystics, is hosting a clinic with Triple Threat Academy at the San Ramon 24-Hour Fitness this weekend. It costs just $25 per person for a 3-hour session. Beard will be teaching girls from grades 4-7 on Saturday from 1:30-4:30 p.m. and will come back at the same time Sunday for girls in grades 7-12. For more information and to register, go here.

The first Bay Area News Group-East Bay basketball polls will debut in the paper this Tuesday (look for them Monday on the blog) and our No. 1 girls team will be no big mystery.

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Due to a severe space crunch in the paper, I had to keep my story on Carondelet’s thrilling 64-62 win over Berkeley in the Platinum semifinals of the West Coast Jamboree short and sweet. Here’s a little more on what happened tonight in the semifinal between arguably the two best girls basketball teams in the East Bay, as well as the other semifinal between Long Beach Poly and Georgetown-Texas.

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The West Coast Jamboree, commonly referred to as the biggest girls basketball tournament in the universe, will tip off Monday at 11 different East Bay gyms. Here are a couple notes about the event that I wasn’t able to work into a preview story running Sunday.

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