When Rylei Waugh began her anticipated high school career starting as a 9th grader at Westchester, Collision Founder Kenneth Miller got a pledge that she would play represent the City Section following her senior season.
Waugh, the City Open Division Co-Player of the Year, turned out to be well worth the wait when she took center stage at Westchester on April 15 for the 23rd annual Collision All Star Games leading the City girls to their first victory since 2012 and only the fourth during the series.
In a game that both the Southern Section and the City Section blew double digit leads, Waugh took over down the stretch scoring 20 second half points, including a three pointer to staved off the Southern girls 81-79.
She culminates her high school career on the heels of fueling Westchester to the Open Division Championship with the MVP for her stellar performance which ranks as one of the most impressive by a girl in the history of the event, especially for a City squad that has been dominated thoroughly since Collision inception in 1999.
Waugh got plenty of help from Crenshaw’s Citlali Salazar who finished with 19, including 11 in the first half. Her Westchester teammate Ronyae Jackson was clicking from downtown with 3 -three pointers had 15 points which turned out to be the difference in an exciting affair.
Lynwood’s Jaushlin Ruffin did her best to keep Southern in it, scoring 11 second half points and 18 for the game. Orange Lutheran’s Madi Bogan poured in six 3 pointers for the Southern and finished with 22 points and was the only other player in double digits for the game.
The game was a rematch of coaches Lindsay Charity of OLU and Westchester’s Domonic Grimes whose high school teams meet in the Southern California Regionals that Charity won. Turns out the two coaches will be back Collision in 2024 after agreeing to pilot their sections again.
Kenna McConnachie of LACES (Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies) was awarded the Scholar Athlete for carrying the highest grade point average among the girls with a 4.5 NCAA Core GPA.
The City girls won for the just the fourth time and prevented the Southern Section for sweeping the series for the 11th time.
Rancho Christian’s Kevin Patton turned in one of the most electric performances in Collision history, thunder dunking, long range threes and twisting reverse lay-ups on his way to 31 points while powering the Southern boys to a recording tying 129 points, defeating the City 129-114 in a game that was never in doubt.
The CIF-SS D-2 POYPatton, who is going to the University of San Diego) to play for former UCLA and St. Johns coach Steve Lavin, is likely to become the next NBA first round pick for Rancho Christian after Evan Mobley based on what he showed at Collision.
It marked the second consecutive victory for the Southern boys and increased their series lead to 13-10, after it lost two straight to the City.
Patton earned MVP for his efforts, but the highest scorer in the game and now Collision History was Darius Carr of Fairfax who buried 40 points, including 10 three pointers.
Rolling Hills Prep’s JV Brown, who is going to Missouri as a preferred walk-on, showcased why he was so coveted by pumping in 23 points, including 17 in the first half.
Rancho Verde’s Anthony Smith scored 24; St. Paul’s Maurice White added 19, 16 in the first half; Bishop Montgomery’s Christian Jones had 14 for the Southern boys.
Grant’s Dilyn Martin finished with 16 and Westchester’s Jonathan Choyce had 15 on all three pointers, to round out the top City scorers.
Westchester’s Angel Corona was Scholar Athlete Award winner with a 3.8 GPA, the second Comet player to achieve the honor.
Prior to the girl’s game two Jim Harrick Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented; One to Rick Moos who was instrumental in founding the Los Angeles WATTS Summer Games with over 6,000 High Schooled Athletes; And the other to former Westchester coach Ed Azzam, who retired after 42 storied years comprising 933 wins and 285 losses. That made him one of only a handful of high school coaches in California history with more than 900 career wins.
