TAKING IT TO ANOTHER LEVEL

Another side of Layshia Clarendon came out in the CIF-SS basketball playoffs. When her San Bernardino Cajon team needed a defensive stop, she obliged. When it needed a bucket, she delivered.

Strong players lead teams to exceptional seasons, but only the best have the ability to take over in the tensest situations. Clarendon did just that to lead Cajon to its first CIF girls basketball title.

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She earned Division 2A co-player of the year, CIF-State Junior Player of the Year by CalHiSports, and San Andreas League Player of the Year. Now she's been selected as the HS GameTime Girls Athlete of the Year.

"She's been our best player ever," Cajon coach Mark Lehman said during the basketball season. "Nobody has played basketball like her at Cajon."

Clarendon, only a junior, will spend the summer touring the country to play in the top summer basketball camps. Most of the Pacific-10 Conference colleges are recruiting the 5-foot-9 guard, who averaged 20.7 points during the season. Led by Clarendon and center Darshae Burnside, Cajon won 30 games this season, beating Chino Hills Ayala in the Division 2A championship game.

She had 25 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in the final. In the semifinals against Perris, Clarendon fought through a consistent double-team to score 27 points, including a steal and subsequent layup in the final minute to give Cajon the lead for good.

"She is like a female Kobe," Ayala coach Mel Sims said after the championship game. "She is just very difficult to stop; whenever she has the ball in her hands she is deadly. You're torn between double-teaming her and her finding teammates, or letting her score."