Sierra creates All-Big 8 women's basketball state final

LEMOORE--North #2 seed Sierra College will get a chance for redemption following its 67-53 win over North #4 College of the Sequoias in the CCCAA Women's Basketball Championship semifinals on Saturday.

The Wolverines (27-3), who shared the Big 8 Conference title with San Joaquin Delta, lost their two games with the Mustangs in the conference season, but now will have a third chance to defeat Delta and for the all the marbles. The teams will face-off in an All-Big 8 Conference state championship final on Sunday at 1 p.m.

It will be just the fourth time in tourney history that two teams from the same conference face each other in the finals and the first since Mt. San Antonio and East Los Angeles played for the 2016 title (Mt. SAC won). 

Sierra's defense was a big factor in defeating Sequoias (24-6), which brought a large crowd from Visalia to watch the Giants play at Central Valley Conference tourney host West Hills College Lemoore. The Wolverines forced COS into 23 turnovers, making 16 steals. Thirty of Sierra's points came directly off Giants' turnovers. 

The Wolverines were paced by All-State Third Team guard Christina Oliva, who scored a game-high 23 points, making five 3-pointers. All-State First Team guard Jenna Duley and All-State Second Team forward Jesse Miller each contributed nine points and five steals. Miller, the star of Thursday's quarterfinals win over Moorpark, added team highs with five assists and nine rebounds. Rachel Loya chipped in nine points. 

In the first quarter, Sapphire Jones capped an 8-0 Giants run on a layup as Sequoias took a 14-13 lead after one quarter. Trailing 23-17 in the second quarter, Sierra's high-octane offense got going with the long-range shooting of Oliva, who scored 13 of her 19 first-half points in the period. Oliva made three consecutive 3s and Lewis scored an inside basket to finish a 13-0 scoring spurt and give the Wolverines a 30-23 lead. Sierra upped it to 38-30 by halftime and would never lose control. 

Sequoias cut it to 40-37 in the third period on a Celeste Lewis layup but the Wolverines gave themselves breathing room by producing a 9-0 spurt. Oliva's layup made it 49-40 with 3:48 left in the quarter. 

Sierra's defense really clamped down in the fourth quarter, holding the Giants to just seven points. 

"I felt we stepped up on defense all tournament, and it started with Thursday in the quarterfinals," said team captain Devon Lewis, who scored 13 points and added three steals v. COS. "We just picked up where we left off on Thursday. The key was to cut them off from driving in the paint, and deny number 24 (Celeste Lewis) the ball. Cristina did a great job for us."

On facing rival Delta, Lewis said: "Losing to them twice puts a fire in us. We actually knew coming down to the Elite 8, we could have a chance for revenge and here it is. Delta usually came out with great third quarters, and we usually came out with bad third quarters. But we have to play like we did in the third quarters the way did today and Thursday."

For Sequoias, Jones, an All-State Second Team guard, scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds while Celeste Lewis had 14 points. Coming off the bench, both Tiana Holland (eight boards) and Ayon Carter tallied nine points a piece.

by Robert Lewis, for the CCCAA