The Newark Optimist Club Girls’ Basketball Tournament took over the Newark Memorial Event Center for three days at the tail end of December. This event marks the 38th annual tournament.
A total of 16 teams participated in the tournament with some teams coming from as far as San Francisco. It was one of most attended events in the club’s 38 years of hosting, according to host and Newark Memorial’s girls’ varsity coach Darryl Reina.
This year, the local teams took over the junior varsity division, while the non-local teams claimed higher rankings in the varsity division.
The games kicked off on Dec. 27 with an Irvington v. Foothill game starting off at 9am and the Aragon v. Newark Memorial varsity team closing out the night. Junior varsity teams that continued into the Monday winning bracket included Irvington overtaking Foothill 60-34, Clayton Valley beating Mission San Jose 41-24, American with a win of 33-21 against Valley Christian and San Leandro beating Newark Memorial 46-27.
In the end, San Leandro and Clayton Valley junior varsity teams went head to head in the Dec. 30 championship game. San Leandro has a history of winning the tournament; they continued their streak in 2025 with a close victory of 37-33.
Irvington and American high schools fought for the third place slot, with American coming out on top.
Teams in the varsity division which continued as winners into Monday matches included all teams from outside of the Mission Valley Athletic League: Menlo-Atheron, St. Ignatius, Lick-Wilmerding and Aragon.
The varsity championship came down to Lick-Wilmerding and St. Ignatius. St. Ignatius took a smooth win with 81-34. St. Ignatius not only made a mark on the tournament as the varsity winner, but as a new participating team that is seeded #11.
For many, this tournament is an early look at what their team can do as they head into the basketball season.
Reina said, “With only three returning players from last year’s team, and with senior Ava Wiggins suffering an ACL tear during our NCS Foundation game earlier this season, our team knew that every day will be a learning experience this season.”
