State's best gather for 46th annual Gilcrest Invitational women's basketball tournament
By Nick Giannandrea
COS ATHLETICS
A star-studded field, per usual, is lined up for the 46th annual Gilcrest Invitational women's basketball tournament.
Three of the state's top five-ranked teams -- including No. 2 Butte (7-1) -- headline the eight teams descending on College of the Sequoias' Porter Field House for a tournament scheduled to run Nov. 30-Dec. 2.
The tournament also features No. 3 Mt. San Antonio (3-1), No. 5 San Joaquin Delta (6-0), No. 7 Moorpark (5-2), No. 11 Chabot (6-0), No. 14 Ventura (6-0), No. 19 Sequoias (6-3) and Los Angeles Valley (2-2), which is unranked state-wide but No. 14 in Southern California.
Teams in the tournament, which mixes four powers from SoCal against four heavyweights from Northern California, have combined to win 17 of the 38 state championships since the event was launched in 1978.
"It's a tough tournament," Sequoias coach Doug White said.
The Giants open against seven-time state champion Ventura in the 7 p.m. showcase game Nov. 30. Other first-round matchups include Mt. SAC against Chabot at 1 p.m., L.A. Valley against Delta at 3 p.m., and Moorpark against Butte at 5 p.m.
Sequoias enters riding a three-game winning streak, including a 78-58 thumping of Hartnell on Nov. 28 in Salinas.
The Giants are as healthy as they have been all season after getting a pair of injured guards back on the floor recently, with Maci Chavez (Kingsburg High) returning during a 74-54 win at Canyons on Nov. 21, and Teresa Sandoval (Hanford West) returning against Hartnell.
Sequoias has also been without Darleth Felix (Tulare Union), Geizzle Jones (Bullard), Trinity Ferro (Corcoran) and Sarah Upshaw (Las Vegas) at various points through its first eight games.
"This is going to be the toughest week of the season so far, and we need it," White said. "We started out the season all jumbled up. We were missing two players at the Delta Tournament and two more at the Moorpark Tournament. We've finally got most of our kids back now, and we've got to start building and overcome some of the mistakes we made early."
Jones is leading the Giants in scoring (13.5 points per game), rebounds (7.0) and blocks (1.8), while also adding an average of 2.0 assists and 1.7 steals a game.
Kyla Wandick (Bakersfield) is averaging 10.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.4 steals a game, while Lucia Riucci (Seattle, Wash.) is contributing 8.0 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.6 steals.
Sequoias is also receiving 7.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.5 steals from Anisa Torres (Caruthers), and 7.0 points and 4.0 rebounds from Ferro.
"We have a lot of talent," White said. "But they are a mixed bag right now."
One of the Giants' problems has been turnovers. They are turning it over an average of 19.25 times per game.
"They are silly turnovers that we shouldn't make," White said. "That's definitely going to be a point of emphasis in practice. We're losing the ball on one-fifth of our possessions. If we can cut that in half, I'll be happy."
If Sequoias wins its opener, it will face the winner between Moorpark and Butte at 7 p.m. Dec. 1 in the semifinals. The Giants would face the Moorpark-Butte loser at 3 p.m. with a loss in the consolation semifinals. The other consolation semifinal is scheduled for 1 p.m., with the other semifinal at 5 p.m.
The schedule for Dec. 2 features the seventh-place game at 10 a.m., the consolation final at noon, the third-place game at 2 p.m. and the championship at 4 p.m.
Three teams from last season's Gilcrest Invitational reached the state's Elite Eight championship tournament: Sequoias, Mt. SAC and eventual runner-up Butte.
