Photo by Steve Watson/The Artful Photographist – CR’s Cody Whitmer leads the state in scoring and 3-pointers.

By Ray Hamill — College of the Redwoods will host a conference doubleheader in basketball on Saturday afternoon, as the men’s and women’s teams get set for challenging matchups against Butte College.

Both CR teams won their Golden Valley Conference openers at Shasta on Wednesday night and each will be looking to continue that fast start against the Roadrunners.

The conference lead will be up for grabs in the women’s game, which tips off at 1 p.m.

Redwoods is 1-0 in the GVC and 9-8 overall, while Butte is 1-0 and 13-4 and has won three straight games.

The winner of that game will at worst move into a two-way tie with Siskiyous for the early conference lead.

The CR men, meanwhile, are 1-0 and 12-7, while the Butte men, who have dropped five straight games, are 0-1 and 8-11.

The men’s game tips off at 3 p.m.

The Redwoods men, and in particular Cody Whitmer, feature among the state leaders in several key categories.

Whitmer, a former McKinleyville Panther, came into the week tied for the state lead in scoring along with Hartnell’s Blake Dibble with 367 points, and he also leads the state in 3-pointers with 83.

Incredibly that is 30 more 3-pointers than the next best.

His teammate Marcos Rosales also is among the state leaders in scoring, ranked No. 6 with 314 points.

Rosales and teammate Nate Sweet are also tied for 11th in 3-pointers made with 41 each.

And, as you would expect with three players in the top 12 in that category, as a team Redwoods leads the state in 3-pointers with 226, which is well ahead of second-placed Santa Rosa with 160.

Head coach Justin Claus’ players are also ranked third in the state in team assists with 20.8 a game.

Rosales has been doing a good job helping to set his teammates up for success and has 97 assists on the year, which is fourth best in the state, while teammate Alfonso Medina is ninth in the state with 76 assists.