Giants tighten CVC women's basketball race ahead of games with Fresno City, Merced
By Nick Giannandrea
COS ATHLETICS
The College of the Sequoias women's basketball team has tightened the Central Valley Conference title chase.
Behind a career-high 29 points from Sapphire Jones (Hanford High), the state No. 11-ranked Giants dropped No. 16 West Hills-Lemoore from the unbeaten ranks in conference play with an 83-76 victory on Jan. 26 at Porter Field House.
Sequoias (13-5 overall) pulled into a three-way tie for second place in the CVC with West Hills-Lemoore (13-6) and state No. 2 Fresno City (17-2) at 3-1. Merced (9-7), which had its first three CVC games postponed because of Covid-19 precautions, leads the conference standings at 1-0.
The Giants are set to face both Fresno City and Merced next week, hosting the Rams at 7 p.m. Feb. 2 and traveling to face the Blue Devils at 5 p.m. Feb. 5.
Jones scored 11 points in the game's first 9 minutes as Sequoias stormed out to a 15-point lead (23-8) against West Hills-Lemoore, which entered atop the conference standings.
The Eagles clawed back into it by outscoring the Giants 22-10 in the second quarter.
The lead changed hands eight times in the second half before a layup by Ayon Carter (Oakland) put Sequoias ahead for good at 73-71 with 2:36 left.
With the Giants clinging to a two-point lead (75-73) with 1:26 remaining, Jones scored five points the rest of the way to help secure the victory.
"Thankfully we won," Sequoias coach Ray Alvarado said. "But win or lose, this game helped us more than a game where we had a blowout win because we had to put some stress pressure on ourselves, kind of get ready for bigger games and a playoff run and all that stuff."
Alvarado said he was pleased with a Giants' defense that forced 29 turnovers and an offense that converted 24 of 37 free-throw attempts after drawing 28 fouls. Jones went 8 of 14 from the free-throw line, while Nikola Hudson (Florida) was 8 of 8.
"We knew it was going to be a tough game," Alvarado said. "We were trying to do some different things defensively, and it helped us. It looked kind of ugly at times, but we wanted to try and establish the tempo and get some turnovers, which we did. Then our goal was to get to the free throw line, and we did that. We kind of forced the issue. I was proud of their effort."
Jones also contributed six rebounds and three steals.
Celeste Lewis (Sierra Pacific-Hanford) had 21 points, seven rebounds, three assists, three steals and three blocks for the Giants.
Sequoias also received eight points, three rebounds, an assist and a steal from Dyaneli Diaz (McFarland); and seven points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals from Serena Ybarra (Coalinga).
The Giants were scheduled to host Taft at 5 p.m. Jan 29, but the game has been canceled after the Cougars were forced to suspend their season because of a lack of players.
