The 2015-2016 girls basketball season for San Pedro Prep Sports was filled with some amazing feats, shattering of streaks, and a pair of tournament championships.

Most of those many accomplishments came from the San Pedro High girls basketball team, and its dynamic duo who know each other so well.

Whenever opposing teams try to focus shutting down San Pedro junior guard/forward Deanna Valverde, that leads to some easy layups and/or turnaround jumpers for senior forward/center Melannie Ortiz. Flip the script if Ortiz gets double-teamed in the paint, that leaves Valverde open for a long range shot from the perimeter. More times than not, it's hard to pick your poison dealing with both.

Valverde and Ortiz, along with a balanced team effort and the leadership of fourth-year coach Cynthia Atencio, would take the Lady Pirates to heights they had never reached before, winning the Legacy Tournament Gold Division championship in January, their first victory over perennial power Narbonne of Harbor City since 1991, along with a 12-game winning streak.

It's for those many reasons that Valverde and Ortiz share the 2016 San Pedro News Pilot Prep Girls Basketball Player Of The Year honor, and Atencio is Coach Of The Year.

San Pedro finished 19-10 overall and finished third in the Marine League at 8-4 for the third consecutive season, and was the only basketball team, boys or girls, to win a playoff game, as Valverde's 18 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists helped lead the Lady Pirates to a 53-52 overtime victory over Los Angeles CES on February 17 in the CIF-Los Angeles City Section Division 1 first round.

In fact, Valverde scored all of her points on six three-pointers, two of which came in overtime. 

Ortiz posted a dominant 37-point, 13-rebound effort in a 86-42 Marine League victory over Gardena on January 25 and along with Valverde, combined for some spectacular moments, especially when Valverde hit Ortiz with a slick no-look bounce pass for an 'And 1' layup against Banning on February 1. Valverde scored a career-high 28 points against Campbell Hall on December 30, 2015.

Mary Star and third-year coach Victor Tuberosi turned in an amazing feat in a 62-14 victory over neighbor Port Of Los Angeles on January 7.

With the Polar Bears leading 6-3 early in the first quarter, Tuberosi called a time out, and the Stars responded by scoring an incredible 39 consecutive points which carried into midway through the third quarter after a three-pointer by sophomore point guard Hanalei Emnace. Mary Star junior guard Angela Pisano scored 17 in a row by herself in the first quarter.

Pisano helped pace the Stars to the Firebaugh Tournament championship in December, and a 14-10 record en route to being named the Most Outstanding Player. The Stars unfortunately didn't qualify as an at-large for the CIF-Southern Section Division 4A playoffs after placing fourth in the Santa Fe League at 5-5, with two of those losses coming by two points.

Pisano and Emnace both made first team All-Santa Fe League, while senior forward Adriana Espinoza made second team All-SFL.

POLA and second-year coach Elspeth Carden continued to battle through injuries and the loss of talented junior guard Kyerstin Galloway (transfer to San Pedro), and still managed to go 8-13 overall, place third in the Crosstown League at an even 5-5, and reach the CIF-LACS Division 3 playoffs.

Here is the full All-San Pedro News Pilot Girls Basketball Team for 2016...

FIRST TEAM

Reyna Canchola (San Pedro, sr.)

Hanalei Emnace (Mary Star, soph.)

Alexis Solis (POLA, sr.)

Adriana Espinoza (Mary Star, sr.)

Natalia Vasquez (San Pedro, jr.)

SECOND TEAM
Erinn Edwards (San Pedro, jr.)

Crystal Redd (San Pedro, sr.)

Sachi Verner (POLA, soph.)

Mariah Gonzales (POLA, soph.)

Jillian Duran (Mary Star, soph.)

CO-PLAYERS OF THE YEAR
Deanna Valverde (San Pedro, jr.)

Melannie Ortiz (San Pedro, sr.)

MOST OUTSTANDING PLAYER

Angela Pisano (Mary Star, jr.)

COACH OF THE YEAR

Cynthia Atencio (San Pedro)

SAN PEDRO NEWS PILOT PAST PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL PLAYERS OF THE YEAR

2012: Rita Fiorenza, San Pedro

2013: Angela Wade, Port Of Los Angeles
2014: Rita Fiorenza, San Pedro
2015: Rita Fiorenza, San Pedro & Angela Pisano, Mary Star.