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Deely’s hoops vita continues to grow

 

On Saturday, the Valley’s Victoria Deely and her University of California, Davis women’s basketball teammates, seeded 16th, had their season come to an end in their first-ever NCAA Division I championship tournament game at the hands of top-seeded power Stanford Saturday at Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto.

While disappointed with the postseason loss, the Aggie women cagers achieved a milestone for UC Davis in its few years as a Division I college by earning a bid to the NCAA championships, which they hope is just the first of many annual trips into “March Madness.”

Being only a sophomore and one of UC Davis’ top scorers and rebounders, the hoops future is looking bright for Sonoma’s Deely.

But this really isn’t a surprise to anyone who has followed the basketball career of this talented, affable and upbeat young woman, and I should know, because I’ve been covering her on-court accomplishments since she’s been in elementary school.

My coverage of Vicky for the Index-Tribune included her helping lead the 13-year-old-and-under girls’ East Bay Xplosion team to a silver medal in the 2004 AAU National Championships, followed by an all-tourney performance in the Xplosion 13-U’s title-win of a major tourament in Oregon.

Or in 2006 when Vicky anchored her USA International Federation of Sports in Catholic Education team in capturing the bronze medal at the 58th annual FISEC Games tournament in Kesckemet, Hungary.

Then there’s her honored high school career at Justin-Siena in Napa which, as a senior in 2008, Vicky led to the Marin County Athletic League and North Coast Section Division 1V titles and into the NorCal championship game. She was the MCAL and Napa County player of the year, as well as an All-Metro selection, all-state honoree, and a McDonald’s All-American nominee.

After back-to-back impact seasons at UC Davis, we get to follow Vicky for two more years of high-level college hoops and, then, possibly, she’ll reach the apex of her lifelong basketball journey as a pro player.

But that’s in the future. At this point in her life as an outstanding cager, Vicky is already playing at the highest college level, which is both impressive and intriguing to follow.

 

•••

Sarah Semenero, a 2008 Sonoma Valley High School graduate and record-breaking standout for the Lady Dragons, is a junior starter and key player who helped her Cal Poly Pomona team win the California Collegiate Athletic Association and NCAA Division II West Region titles and reach the NCAA Division II tournament’s “Elite Eight.” 

Semenero and her Bronco women teammates face Northwest Missouri State in a 6:30 p.m. quarterfinal matchup tonight in St. Joseph, Mo.

Ciao!