APTOS — In an era of basketball obsessed with fancy dribbles, no-look passes and landing on Instagram and Twitter highlight clips, Hannah Hocom is a throwback to simpler times.
Aptos High’s junior guard makes the easy pass, doesn’t take bad shots and plays airtight on-ball defense without the fear of winding up on someone’s highlight tape.
“If it happens, it happens,” Hocom said. “Good players are going to make good plays. You can’t be afraid to get crossed over. You can’t be afraid to challenge people.”
Smart, fearless and always improving her game, Hocom is the Pajaronian’s Player of the Year for girls’ basketball for the second straight season.
One of the deadliest offensive players in the Tri-County (Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito) last season, Hocom lived up to her reputation this winter while also making drastic improvements on the defensive end. The 5-foot-9 guard often blanketed the opposing team’s best guard for three quarters of the court, throwing their offensive game plan out of whack with her pestering reach and impeccable footwork.
Her strength and conditioning program at Seascape Village Fitness over the offseason helped her stick with smaller and quicker guards, and the added strength helped her guard bigger players in the post. She averaged 1.3 blocks and 1.9 steals per game, an improvement from last year’s numbers (0.2 and 1.8).
Hocom said she was happy with her improved defensive statistics, but explained that her turnover numbers produced the biggest smile. She cut down her turnovers per game from 1.4 last season to 1.0 this season.
“I like to think that I didn’t take a lot of stupid shots and make a lot of bad passes,” Hocom said. “I think I got the ball to where it needed to be.”
Even while exuding a great amount of energy on defense, Hocom still managed to be one of Aptos’s steadying forces on the offensive end, surpassing 1,000 points for her career early in the season. She averaged 14.1 points and 2.1 assists per game, while shooting 37 percent from 3-point range and 81 percent from the free-throw line. She hit 84 3-pointers, the 13th most of any player in the state and second-most in the Central Coast Section, according to the stats kept on MaxPreps.
Her brilliance helped Aptos finish the season with a 26-5 overall record and win the program’s first outright Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League championship since the 1981-82 season. The Mariners also finished runner-up in the CCS Division III playoffs and advanced to the CIF NorCal D-III quarterfinals. Hocom was named the Most Valuable Player of the SCCAL for her efforts.
“It was like the icing on the cake,” Hocom said of the M.V.P. honor. “It’s really just a good feeling to have coaches recognize that you’re a good player.”
Hocom said she wants to improve on her one-on-one offensive game, her defense in the post and her composure in pressure situations before next season. She plans to continue her strength and conditioning program, and is also set to play AAU basketball with the Fever, a team based in Los Altos.
Even in her downtime, Hocom, an honor student with a 4.3 grade point average who wants to own her own business in the future, doesn’t like to stay away from the court. She likes to play pick-up and one-on-one basketball at the Watsonville YMCA and isn’t afraid to take on all challengers. Those unpredictable games, she said, have helped her add a craftiness to her game. She also enjoys the look of shock on grown men’s faces when she starts burying NBA-range 3-pointers.
“It’s a different way of looking at the game,” Hocom said. “You get a different experience each time you play with different people. You have to find different strategies for each game. It’s almost like a board game.”
It’s a skill that will without question come in handy next season when the Mariners, who return all but one player next winter, are playing several state and national powers in the preseason, including the nation’s top ranked team, Archbishop Mitty.
“I think we can get better and we want to show that we can play with those bigger teams,” Hocom said. “We want people to know about Aptos.”
COACH OF THE YEAR
• Stefan Hocom, Aptos — In his fourth year as head coach, Hocom led the Mariners to their second consecutive 26-win season and to a perfect SCCAL campaign in which they won by an average of 33 points.
Aptos finished the year ranked 94th in the state, and 11th in the CCS, according to MaxPreps.
THE REST OF THE TEAM
• Gabby Giuffre, Aptos — The Mariners’ 5-foot-10 sophomore point guard averaged 13.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.3 steals per game while earning a spot on the All-SCCAL Second Team.
• Savanah Quintana, Watsonville — The Wildcatz’s 5-foot-3 guard averaged 14.0 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 3.8 steals per game while earning a spot on the All-Monterey Bay League Pacific division First Team.
Watsonville went 16-10 overall and won its first CCS playoff game since the 2007-08 season.
• Natalia Ackerman, Aptos — The Mariners’ 6-foot-1 sophomore forward averaged 15.8 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.9 steals and 2.9 blocks per game while earning a spot on the All-SCCAL First Team.
• Julisa Vega, Watsonville — The Wildcatz’s 6-foot-2 senior center averaged 8.4 points, 9.5 rebounds and 4.3 blocks per game, the most in the CCS and 13th-most in the state, while earning a spot on the All-MBL-Pacific division Second Team.
• Mackenzie Tellez, M.V.C. — The Mustangs’ freshman guard averaged 11.2 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.2 steals per game to land on the All-MBL-Gabilan division First Team.
Tellez helped M.V.C. finish the season with a 12-14 overall record and win a CCS playoff game for the seventh straight season.
• Abbi Saxton, Aptos — The Mariners’ senior forward did a little bit of everything in averaging 5.3 points, 10.4 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.3 steals per game.
She finished her four-year varsity career with 1,013 rebounds.
