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The steady rock. The MVP. A four-year leader.
Those are some of the many descriptions that have been attached to Sage Hill point guard Isabel Gomez during the team’s run to the CIF State Division II girls basketball championship game Saturday at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
“There’s not enough accolades for Isabel Gomez,” Lightning coach Kerwin Walters said of the 5-foot-8 senior. “She gives of herself in so many different ways.”
From her scoring, passing, rebounding and leadership, Gomez is a major reason why a young Sage Hill team (26-10) has reached its first state final.
She enters Saturday’s 2 p.m. showdown against San Joaquin Memorial of Fresno (27-6) averaging 13.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.3 steals.
But it’s the way Gomez plays and interacts with her teammates that makes those numbers become more meaningful.
She has matured into a point guard who knows when to look for her shot and when to feed her teammates.
The Lightning’s victory in the CIF State SoCal Division II regional final Tuesday provided the perfect illustration.
With host Santiago of Corona gaining momentum in the fourth quarter, Gomez snatched a rebound and dribbled the length of the court for a three-point play to snap a 9-0 run by the Sharks.
She also assisted on the game-winning basket by Kat Righeimer in the final seconds by making a well-placed bounce pass on an inbound play.
“This kid can score 35 points if she needed to,” Walters said of Gomez. “She doesn’t have to do that because she trusts the teammates around her. She can set up everyone.”
Gomez also has earned respect for her leadership.
She has blended well with four players who climbed the ranks playing on Kobe Bryant’s Mambas youth team. They are sophomores Righeimer, Emily Eadie, Annabelle Spotts and Zoie Lamkin.
Last season, the group teamed with senior center Emily Elliott to capture the CIF-SS Division 3AA title, the first in school history.
“I’m so lucky that they came to Sage and they’re in my life,” Gomez said of the sophomores. “I love playing with all of them. They get the job done … and I have the utmost confidence in all of them, and I’m really excited to see what they do for the next few years.”
Gomez’s next stop is the University of Pennsylvania as a walk-on. The journey also will take her to a state with strong ties to the players who inspired her to wear jersey No. 24: Kobe Bryant (Lower Merion High) and Bobby Jones (Philadelphia 76ers).
But when it comes to her journey at Sage Hill, Gomez credits former teammates such as Elliott, now playing volleyball at Cal State L.A., for showing her the way.
“She would just be super proud of us,” Gomez said of Elliott. “Her, Jacqueline McNeill, Zoe Mazakas and Nadia Akbari are the four people who really kind of taught me how to be myself and hopefully how to lead these girls in a way that’s positive.”
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