North Has Too Much Hubbard

Among those attending Sunday’s California State High School Women’s Basketball game were six players from UCLA, who hoped to glimpse their future.

The UCLA women’s program has the nation’s second-ranked recruiting class, and four members were in the North-South game at the Bren Center.

The Bruins knew about Woodbridge’s Melanie Pearson, Edison’s Marie Philman and Mission Hills Alemany’s Carly Funicello.

They also knew of Riverside North’s Maylana Martin, who didn’t play because she had already reached her two all-star game limit.

But they didn’t know about Fresno’s Janae Hubbard, the girl from central California whom they had met on a recruiting trip, but had not seen play.

Rest assured, she can play.

Hubbard had a game-high 21 points and 18 rebounds to lead the North to a 95-74 victory. She was clearly the game’s most dominating player, though was somehow overlooked as the team’s most valuable player; that went to Taft Union’s Kate Crane (10 points, 10 rebounds).

“You can’t block [Hubbard] out; all you can do is hack her to death,” said Pearson (six points, seven rebounds).

“She’s going to be a total asset,” said Philman (two points, two rebounds). “Our freshman class will be unbelievable. Everyone has something to contribute.”

Hubbard, a stocky 6 feet 4, contributes size. Against the South, she was an immovable object; she scored eight of the North’s first 20 points, making it 20-17--a lead the North would not relinquish. She was 10 for 17 from the field, despite missing her last three shots.

The North held a 43-34 halftime lead, and Hubbard scored the first five points of the second half in a 13-0 run. The lead reached 31 with 10 minutes 23 seconds left on a layup by Fountain Valley’s Nicole Strange--who was added to the North squad as a late addition. Strange had eight points, two rebounds and four assists.

“UCLA’s going to be awesome next year with all of them,” said Strange, who will play at Oregon. “Every time [Hubbard] gets the ball, she scores.”

Funicello had eight points and two rebounds. Stanford-bound Melody Peterson of Mater Dei scored 14 and had seven steals.