LAFAYETTE – The shot clock at the cozy Acalanes gymnasium is closer to a decoration than a necessity when the program’s girls basketball team takes the court.
The highly-ranked East Bay team rips up and down the floor at breakneck pace, with senior point guard Karyss “KK” Lacanlale – literally – running the show.
Usually running the wings is fellow fourth-year players Ariana Hallstrom, Sophie Chinn and Natalie Frechman, and senior post Dulci Vail isn’t far behind as the trailer.
How good is their chemistry?
The Dons don’t need to utter a single word to one another to know what each player will do in the mayhem of the fastbreak.
“We don’t even have to talk,” Lacanlale said. “We just look, and we already know what’s gonna happen.”
Individually talented, the five childhood friends collectively form the core of a team that reached its first North Coast Section Open Division title game and is seeded fourth in the highest tier of the NorCal regionals.
But even good teams have bad days.
The Dons (27-2) will be at home on Wednesday against fifth-seeded McClatchy in the Open Division regional, seeking to rebound from their worst loss of the season, a 76-43 thumping by San Ramon Valley on Saturday in the NCS final.
“What happens after this will show our character,” coach Margaret Gartner said.
MORAGA — San Ramon Valley took down Acalanes 76-43 in a shocking rout in the NCS Open Division title game (Joseph Dycus/Bay Area News Group)
Long before starring for Acalanes, the five seniors were elementary school students playing on different AAU teams around the East Bay.
“We were always battling, butting heads,” Vail remembered.
Because of those early showdowns, the girls started to know, and later befriend, one another. By the time they reached middle school, they had joined forces on a now-defunct AAU team called Blitz.
It was a fitting name for a team that gave East Bay basketball an early glimpse of what would unfold at Acalanes.
“I would always see them because I’d play against them, and they were our best competition,” Lacanlale said. “And when we joined together, we just dominated.”
Success was immediate once they began attending Acalanes, with all but Hallstrom enrolling as freshmen. The Dons won the NCS Division II title in 2022 with the four all playing minutes for coach Gartner’s program.
Once Hallstrom transferred in from Pinewood as a sophomore, the five childhood friends established Acalanes as one of the best in the section.
But in each of the last two seasons, the Dons were just a smidge below the other elite programs in the area, losing in both the section and NorCal playoffs each season.
“In our sophomore and junior years, we had all of these expectations, all of these pressures, and weren’t fully ready,” Chinn said. “Like we had these close games with such good teams, but we weren’t really ready to make it over the hump.”
Acalanes is playing at the highest level now.
So who are the five upperclassmen who have taken their Lafayette public school to the upper-echelon of California high school basketball?
This is their story:
K.K LACANLALE: FLOOR GENERAL
K.K. Lacanlale (33) is the undisputed floor general for Acalanes. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
Though each of the five seniors plays uniquely vital roles for the Dons, there is no question who leads the team.
No player makes a bigger impact than Lacanlale. Despite standing at 5-foot-5, she runs the show as a point guard who can drop 30 points as easily as she dishes out 10 assists.
“I love KK,” Vail said. “She’s like our rock, if that makes sense. She handles everything in stride, and she’s just able to handle any pressure on the court or off it with a smile on her face.”
Aside from orchestrating the Dons’ attack at an elite level, Lacanlale has also taken on a more vocal role.
“We’ve been more honest with each other this year, whether we have to yell at a person, or we have to pull them aside and ask what’s going on,” Lacanlale said. “We have been doing really well with holding each other accountable, and I think that’s really helping us step up our game.”
Her desire to help others extends beyond basketball. She has committed to Saint Martin’s University and will study nursing while also playing for the school’s basketball team.
As she helped her family take care of her grandparents, Lacanlale found her passion in life.
“I think that I want to work with elderly people, because I just want to be there to support them in their most vulnerable times,” Lacanlale said.
DULCI VAIL: DOMINANT IN THE MIDDLE
Dulci Vail (21) is a dominant force in the middle for the Dons. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
There are basketball prodigies, young children blessed with physical gifts, coordination and the ability to make difficult plays look simple.
Dulci Vail was not among that group.
“When I was younger, I was the tallest by far and that was the only reason I was put onto the AAU teams was because I was tall,” Vail said. “I was horrible. I was so bad. They taught me how to chuck the ball at the rim and hope it goes in.”
Since those early days, Vail has improved tremendously while reaching her 6-foot-1 height. The senior is often seen orchestrating halfcourt sets out of the high post, making passing reads like a point guard and taking jumpshots with ease.
Vail also played an instrumental role in making Hallstrom feel welcome at her new school in 2022-23.
“She’s always been just so welcoming, and she has, like a motherly type of attitude where she’s always just protecting you,” Hallstrom said. “My friends always joke and we’re always calling her the mom of the friend group.”
Vail’s biggest on-court impact comes on defense. As the only player on the team taller than 6-foot, the responsibility of battling with other post players, blocking shots and grabbing boards falls upon her capable shoulders.
“I think I thrive because of the fact that I have a very important position on the team, and I like the fact that I do have a lot of pressure on me when it comes to that,” Vail said.
SOPHIE CHINN: COMEBACK STORY
Acalanes’ Sophie Chinn, (4) has come all the way back from a major knee injury. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
After Sophie Chinn tore the ACL in her right knee last season, the guard threw herself into rehab. She did physical therapy, twice a week, for six months. Then she began working out with Mark Wine – the director of performance at Ultimate Fieldhouse who is also De La Salle’s strength and conditioning coach – for high-intensity training.
Chinn came back even better than before.
“I’ve seen a huge growth in my own strength and in my conditioning, lateral movement and everything,” Chinn said.
She credited her teammates and coaches for helping keep her spirits high during rehab.
“The day I had surgery, I had multiple people come to my house, Natalie dropped off food, and the whole team put together a gift basket,” Chinn said. “I think I even video called all of them.”
A summertime trip to Spain also helped the process.
“In Granada we were standing at the top of the hill, and most of the stuff was in the middle or kind of way down,” Chinn said. “I was probably walking 25,000 steps a day, and I would say that helped so much with knee rehab. Surprisingly, I felt no pain.”
After returning for Acalanes’ sixth game of this season, a 73-35 win over Benicia, Chinn has retaken her spot in the starting lineup.
Now she’s ready to help the Dons aim for the mountaintop.
“We’re all back, we’re all healthy,” Chinn said. “We’ve been in these big games, and we’ve won.”
ARIANNA HALLSTROM: TOUGH AND GRITTY
A broken nose doesn’t stop Ariana Hallstrom (24) from playing with physicality. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
When Ariana Halstrom plays, she doesn’t seem to realize that she’s wearing a bulky mask meant to project a nose that is broken in three spots. The senior will charge into the paint, seeking contact and paying little heed to her physical well-being.
So it is no surprise that being a key player on the Diablo Athletic League champion doesn’t scare her.
“We’ve been playing in big games ever since my sophomore year, so we’re used to the pressure that comes with it,” Hallstrom said.
That fearless demeanor comes from her mother Melissa Hallstrom, who worked two jobs while Ariana was growing up, and later went back to school to earn her degree.
“Seeing her go to work during the day, and then going to nursing classes at night, and seeing that determination to prove that’s something she can do, especially later in life, I definitely learned that growing up around my mom,” Hallstrom said.
After her freshman year at Pinewood in Los Altos Hills didn’t go as planned, she transferred to Acalanes and instantly became a key player for the Dons.
Before she plays at Cal State-San Bernardino in the fall, Hallstrom hopes to be a part of a historic state run for Acalanes, capping off a season that has seen the Dons defeat other elite programs along the way.
“After playing teams like that, I think we’re confident in our ability to play teams at that level,” Hallstrom said.
NATALIE FRECHMAN: MISS VERSATILITY
Natalie Frechman (11) enjoys guarding the other team’s top scorer. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
If Acalanes needs something done, Natalie Frechman is willing to do it.
She started most of last season after Chinn’s injury, often being asked to defend elite guards.
“We don’t want to tire out KK if she has to guard the best player on the other team,” Frechman said. “I’ll guard the point guard to keep the other girls’ energy up.”
But that’s only part of Freshman’s contributions to the team. She was also put in charge of the team’s social media accounts and helped drum up excitement.
It worked.
“We have a lot of girls, little girls, come to our games, and we’ve gotten so many posters,” Vail said. “It’s adorable. They come and they bring us their basketballs, and we’ve signed so many basketballs, and so many posters of ourselves, which I didn’t realize people had.”
This season, Frechman has been given the sixth-man role with Chinn’s return and junior Lexi Le’s emergence.
Some players might be bummed out by getting bumped from the starting five, but not Frechman, who described herself as ‘“a very positive person.”
“It’s especially fun when I get to go in and I’m with the starting group. It’s just a different type of basketball,” Frechman said. “We just have this flow.”
Acalanes players celebrate during a timeout in their North Coast Section Open Division semifinal game against Cardinal Newman at Acalanes High School in Lafayette, Calif., on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
Acalanes’ Cameron Thornton, (13) Sophie Chinn, (4) Natalie Frechman, (11) Lexi Le (3) and Ariana Hallstrom (24) on the court against Cardinal Newman during their North Coast Section Open Division semifinal game at Acalanes High School in Lafayette, Calif., on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
