The third time is a charm for Sierra in defeating San Joaquin Delta for the 2022 CCCAA Women's Basketball championship

LEMOORE - It was the third meeting between two Big 8 Conference rivals and this time Sierra College was ready for its mountain of an opponent in state #1-ranked San Joaquin Delta. Jesse Miller scored 33 points and the Wolverines survived a late Mustangs run to win the 2022 CCCAA Women's Basketball state championship, 76-71, Sunday afternoon. 

Sierra (28-3), the North #2 seed, had lost two previous conference meetings this season v. co-Big 8 champ Delta and in both cases the Mustangs had big third quarters to take control of each of those contests.

In the state title game, Sierra built a 42-32 halftime lead, but in the third quarter, the Wolverines defense shut down both Delta's inside game and perimeter shooting. Delta made just 2-for-14 from the floor in the period while Miller went on a run of her own. The state tourney MVP forward hit a rebound and basket, swished a jumper, and made a reverse layup in a minute span that extended Sierra's lead to 20 points, 61-41, with 2:56 left in the period.

Miller blocked a shot on the next possession and then gave a nifty quick-touch pass to Devon Lewis for a layup as Sierra outscored Delta, 23-12, in the third. That 65-44 lead came in handy as Delta made a valiant run in the fourth quarter. 

The Mustangs (30-3) ran off 10 straight points capped on a Breanna Grigsby layup that sliced the lead to 10. Miller broke that run on a short jumper before the Mustangs used pressure defense to create turnovers and transition baskets. Kamania Griffin came off the bench to hit a 3 and her driving layup cut the lead to four, 70-66, with 2:01 left. That's as close as Delta would get as both Christina Oliva and Jenna Duley sank two free throws in the final minute that insured Sierra's first state title since 1999.

"Facing a conference team twice in the regular season, it sure helps in knowing what the other team can do," said Sierra head coach Brandie Murrish. "We knew that Delta is a team that goes on big runs and we just talked about weathering the storm. We are a defensive-minded team and everyone just dug down deep to limit them. They have a high-octane offense so we expected that run in the fourth and we held on."

Miller poured in 13 of 25 shots from the floor (three 3s), totaled nine rebounds and dished out three assists. Duley added 14 points and three steals and Oliva had nine points. For Delta, Donja Payne, a 2-time Northern California Player of the Year, scored 18 points and pulled down a tourney-high 20 rebounds to go with three blocks. Alicia Jones totaled 11 points and Trena Rathjen scored eight with seven boards. 

"It feels amazing," Miller said of winning the title. "We were in a pandemic the first year when we wanted to get here and we didn't, so we knew this was our year. We were coming back and we were going to win it all. And that's what we did."

It was the first all North state final since Santa Rosa JC beat City College of San Francisco in 2011. Sierra is the second Big 8 state champion in a row to win the state title even though it was three years apart. Diablo Valley won in 2019, then the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the 2020 tourney and the 2020-2021 season/tourney.

For Sierra, Duley, Lewis, Rachel Loya and Kiki Griffin all played on the 2019-2020 team that advanced to the '20 state tourney only to see the event cancelled the morning of the quarterfinals. Each continued to commit to the Wolverines program with a glorious final result.

Delta's third trip to the state finals ended with its third state runner-up trophy as the Mustangs also lost in 2006 (v. Mt. San Antonio) and 2009 (v. Pasadena City).

In the first quarter, Delta jumped ahead 5-0 lead before both teams started trading baskets in a high-energy period that featured five lead changes. Miller and Oliva hit back-to-back treys and Miller's baseline jumper right before the buzzer gave the Wolverines a 26-20 lead. Miller scored 12 in the quarter. 

In the second period, Sierra's defense caused a bevy of offensive fouls on Delta and halted the Mustangs ability to make transition baskets. A Miller 3 upped Sierra's lead to 34-24 and a Loya jumper sent it to 12 (42-30). Delta's offense could only produce a Payne layup with 2:53 to go in the quarter and Sierra took a 42-32 lead into halftime. 

Payne was a rebound machine in the opening half with 14 boards to go with eight points. Miller had 15 points and six rebounds and Lewis tallied three of Sierra's seven steals over the first two periods.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
MVP - Jesse Miller (Sierra)
Jenna Duley (Sierra), Christina Oliva (Sierra), Alicia Jones (San Joaquin Delta), Donja Payne (San Joaquin Delta), Sapphire Jones (College of the Sequoias), Paola Roa (Irvine Valley)

(Release by Robert Lewis, for the CCCAA)