Giants upset state No. 3 Fresno City in women's basketball; face CVC-leading Merced next
By Nick Giannandrea
COS ATHLETICS
What a difference a little more than three weeks -- and a healthy Sapphire Jones -- made for College of the Sequoias' women's basketball team.
Jones, a sophomore guard out of Hanford High, scored a game co-leading 15 points to go along with five rebounds, five steals and an assist while leading the state No. 16-ranked Giants to a 73-58 upset of No. 3 Fresno City on Feb. 2 at Porter Field House.
On Jan. 8, without Jones and three other key contributors because of illness and injury, the Giants lost 83-56 against the Rams in Fresno. Six players in total missed the week of practices leading up to the first meeting, which Fresno City rolled into riding a 14-game winning streak.
"I still feel that we were put in a tough position to play that game over there with that Covid. Five or six of our players had gotten Covid and we had no practices," Sequoias coach Ray Alvarado said. "It was hard. But we stuck to our principles and said, 'alright, let's go play the game.' And it hurt us obviously. But we showed a lot of toughness and fight and pride and grit (tonight). We're more in shape. To be honest, we obviously can play better, but it was good to see the team will out a victory against a good team."
Fresno City (17-3, 3-2) had the momentum early in the rematch, jumping out to an 8-2 lead following Lexi Valencia's 3-pointer at the 7:01 mark of the first quarter.
Sequoias (14-5, 4-1) didn't take its first lead until a 3-point play by Ayon Carter (Oakland) put the Giants ahead 27-26 with 4:23 remaining in the second quarter.
The score remained close until halftime, with Sequoias clinging to a 29-28 edge.
Celeste Lewis (Sierra Pacific-Hanford) scored four points during a 13-4 Giants' run to open the third quarter that allowed them to stretch their lead to 10 points at 42-32.
A jumper by Hailee Edwards (Ridgeview, Bakersfield) with 9:41 left in the fourth quarter gave Sequoias its biggest lead at 16 points (57-41).
Fresno City got within nine points at 64-56 following a Kelsey Delgado free throw with 1:14 to play, but the Giants made 5 of 6 free throws, didn't allow a 3-pointer and got a steal and layup from Jones with 4 seconds left to put the finishing touch on their third straight win.
"I thought the team pulled together and did exactly what they had to do down the stretch, hit free throws, make some stops and defend the 3-point line," Alvarado said. "We had some lapses there, but for the most part, it was a good team effort."
Carter scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds for Sequoias.
The Giants also received 12 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals from Edwards; nine points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals from Lewis; eight points, seven rebounds, three steals and an assist from Serena Ybarra (Coalinga); six points, four rebounds and four steals from Dyaneli Diaz (McFarland); three points, four assists, three rebounds and a steal from Nikola Hudson (Florida); and two points, five rebounds and two steals from Tiana Holland (Washington-Easton).
Sequoias' next two games are against CVC-leading Merced (10-7, 2-0), a road game at 5 p.m. Feb. 5 and a home game against the Blue Devils at 6 p.m. Feb. 7.
"We have to forget about this game and go get the next one," Alvarado said. "We don't really have room for error. We have to win out. But at the same time, we've got to take it one game at a time."
