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February 17, 2026
Nothing has been easy for the Whitney High girls basketball team this season, but when it needed a big time player, the experience of junior Alyssa So has always been there. And against third-seeded Foothill High in a CIF-Southern Section Division 5 second round game last Saturday afternoon, So decided to take control of the third quarter.
She scored all 11 points the Wildcats had in the stanza to open an eight-point advantage and the lead held up as Whitney defeated the Knights 40-33, improving to 19-8.
“In the first half, none of my shots were falling, so I knew down the road, I had to start driving to the basket,” said So. “That’s what I was looking for. I really wanted to open up my teammates because I knew if I started driving and making my shots, then it would open up more of my teammates, because they played pretty hard man to man. I just needed to open up more scoring opportunities.”
Apart from a 4-0 lead by Foothill, the rest of the first quarter was a one-possession game and Whitney did not take its first lead until So scored the second of her two consecutive baskets with 1:45 remaining to make it an 8-6 affair. That would be the only lead change in the stanza but there were four ties and So scored six of the 10 Whitney points.
It was more of the same in the second quarter, but less scoring and more defense as the teams combined for 12 points on four of 24 shooting and combined to turn the ball over 11 times. The game was tied at 12-12 and 15-15 but again, neither team led by more than three points with the ‘Cats owning a 17-15 halftime lead.
For Whitney to be leading at the break is another story in itself as junior Ella Nelson picked up her third foul midway through the second quarter and senior Tina Namaranian had her second foul with 2:11 left before halftime. In fact, the hosts were plagued with foul trouble with junior Cheyanne Cheung, freshman Sophia Kang and Nelson all ending the game with four fouls. Whitney finished the game with 17 fouls while the Knights had a dozen.
“I think Ella did a great job; she only had one foul in the second half and I’m pretty sure it was late,” said So. “So, she did a good job controlling herself. I really wasn’t too worried; I didn’t even know that we had three people with four fouls until the end. Tina usually has more fouls, but she didn’t this time. If it did come down to it, me and Tina could take a couple if we needed to. I knew they weren’t going to try anything crazy to get themselves out of the game because they all wanted to stay in it.”
A three-pointer from Elize McAveney 38 seconds into the second half put the Knights back in front at 18-17. But just over a minute later, Cheung fed a pass to So and the first of her 11 points in the quarter gave Whitney the lead for good as it began a 6-0 run.
The Knights went on a 5-0 run over the final 1:28 of the third quarter and when McAveney converted a pair of free throws with 6:56 left in the game, Whitney was up 30-27. After baskets from Namaranian and Nelson pushed the lead to seven before a three-pointer from Sybella Hernandez made it a four-point lead with 5:20 remaining. That would be the last time either team would score until Namaranian drained her only downtown basket with less than 40 seconds remaining with So getting the assist. That started a 6-0 scoring run which put the game away.
So led the Wildcats with 24 points, the second time in the past three games she has finished with that total and the fourth straight game scoring over 20 points. She added four assists, four rebounds and four steals while Namaranian pitched in with eight points, six rebounds and four steals. Cheung and Kang each had eight rebounds and Nelson chipped in with seven boards and six points. Defensively, the Wildcats forced 24 turnovers.
“I think we did a good job flustering their passes, so a lot of their passes were too hard, or too far and went out of bounds,” said So. “And then when they drove [to the basket], we did a good job of digging the post.”
A big target has been put on Whitney this season coming off a Division 5 state championship. The Wildcats graduated six players and two players decided not to come back. Only Cheung, Namaranian and So are back and the team has a new head coach in Carl Wilson. With Kang and Nelson being inserted into the starting lineup, the team has had to rely on its five starters all season as the six bench players, all freshmen and sophomores, have combined to score 102 points.
“Obviously last year, I had Haylie [Wang], so that’s really a big difference,” said So. “If I wasn’t scoring, she would score. If she was scoring, I could help her. This year, we really don’t have any bigs, so it’s really hard. But we’ve been playing really physical. I feel like Ella and Cheyanne have done a great job battling with anyone. It doesn’t matter how tall they are or how physical they are because everyone knows we don’t want to go out way earlier…because we went so far last year, no one wants to just turn it around and just go out in the first round. I feel like everyone is doing a really good job of trying their hardest and showing up every single day.”
Whitney will visit Oakwood High (Feb. 18) in the quarterfinals with the winner facing either Carter High or Burbank Burroughs High on Saturday.
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