Giants' 27th straight win produces outright CVC women's basketball title

By Nick Giannandrea

COS ATHLETICS

College of the Sequoias women's basketball team added more fodder to an already impressive resume for postseason seeding: Outright conference champion.

Receiving points from all 10 players who suited up, the state top-ranked Giants ensured they won't be caught for the Central Valley Conference title by defeating Merced 71-48 on Feb. 15 at Porter Field House.

Only No. 19 Fresno City (17-9, 8-2) had a chance of catching Sequoias (27-0, 11-0), but the Rams now sit 2 1/2 games back with only one to play. The Giants clinched no worse than a tie for their seventh CVC title since 2015 with a 70-55 win over Fresno City on Feb. 12. The Rams were idle on Feb. 15.

Sequoias closes the regular season at 5 p.m. Feb. 19 at Porterville (6-19, 0-10). 

"It's special. Conference championships are hard to win," said Tyler Newton, who won four Golden Valley Conference titles in seven seasons at Butte before being hired as the Giants' coach last spring. "I never take it for granted. I'm proud of the girls and our effort today."

One of the four players who followed Newton from Butte to Sequoias agreed.

"It's pretty exciting," reigning all-state sophomore Morgan Trigueiro (Caruthers High) said. "We didn't move here to lose, you know. It feels good to get it done."

The Giants now boast the most wins, longest winning streak and only undefeated season in the state, and 12 wins over state-ranked opposition, including the Nos. 2-4 teams (No. 2 Mt. San Antonio, No. 3 Orange Coast and No. 4 Moorpark) twice each. 

It's a resume unrivaled across the state , and one that is expected to land Sequoias the No. 1 seed for the Northern California Regional playoffs – and home court advantage as long as it's alive – when pairings are announced Feb. 23.

The Giants are likely to host a second round NorCal Regional playoff game March 1. The Regional finals are March 8, with the state's Elite Eight tournament scheduled for March 14-16 at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut.

Sequoias is seeking the second state title in program history, adding to the championship won by the 1987 team that went 35-0 under legendary coach Tom Gilcrest.

"We all want it," said sophomore Anisa Torres (Caruthers). "We've all worked hard. At the end of the day, we want to win that ring."

Torres has been thrust into an even more prominent role in pursuit of that state championship ring over the Giants' past four games, becoming the team's starting point guard after reigning all-state performer Campbell Vieg (Chico) suffered a season-ending knee injury during a 108-52 win over Taft on Feb. 1.

Playing a season-high 34 minutes, Torres delivered three points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals while making only two of the team's 18 turnovers. She had seven of Sequoias' season-high 25 turnovers against Fresno City on Feb. 12.

"I think she's getting more comfortable with the ball in her hands and playing more minutes," Newton said. "That's always a goal of ours, to keep our turnovers down and take care of the ball. I thought we did a better job of that than the last game. We're still trying to find a way to play differently. We're not the same basketball team without Campbell. We've had to figure out ways to score in different ways, and play differently. And it takes a feeling out process. It's only been a few games, and we're still trying to figure that out, but I was happy with our effort and how we've played." 

The Giants opened the scoring on the first two of a team co-leading 14 points from Kaitlin Giacone (Eureka) at the 9-minute, 32-second mark of the first quarter and never trailed against Merced (10-16, 3-7).

Sequoias' lead grew as big as 35 points (63-28) on a 3-pointer by Trigueiro with 9:31 remaining in the fourth quarter.

"We have something even bigger to play for now. We have somebody to do it for," Trigueiro said of the team's desire to win for injured teammate Vieg. "The energy and want is there. We've just got to keep finding our new identity. It seems like we're getting closer and closer every day."

Trigueiro finished with 10 points, four assists, two rebounds, a steal and a block.

Giacone added a team-leading 10 rebounds and an assist.

Jocelyn Medina (Arbuckle) had 14 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals, while Lucia Ricci (Seattle) had three points, nine rebounds, five steals and two assists.

Olivia Gill (Woodland) led the Giants off the bench with 11 points, a rebound and a block. Sequoias also received eight points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals from Teresa Sandoval (Hanford West); five points and eight rebounds from Maya McNeal (Marysville); two points, two steals and a rebound from Karine Dhaliwal (Yuba); and one point, two rebounds, an assist and a steal from Mallary Gonzalez (Hoover-Fresno).

Following the game, the players and coaches cut down the net from the goal on the north end of Porter Field House in celebration of the 21st conference championship in program history, and first under Newton and assistants Annie Ward and Justin Scheringer.

"It's exciting to see all our hard work from this whole year finally paying off," Torres said. "And getting to (win the outright CVC title) in front of everybody who supports us means everything. We're still not satisfied, though. There are still things to clean up and get ready for the playoffs."