Giants take lead in CVC women's basketball race with sweep of Merced

By Nick Giannandrea

COS ATHLETICS

Roughly two weeks ago, the College of the Sequoias women's basketball team was looking up at three teams in the Central Valley Conference standings.

Now, everyone is chasing the Giants.

Sequoias moved 1 1/2 games ahead of its closest competition following a 61-57 victory over Merced on Feb. 7 at Porter Field House.

With four regular season games remaining, starting at 7 p.m. Feb. 9 at home against Reedley, the state No. 16-ranked Giants control their own path toward a fifth CVC title in the past seven championship seasons. Merced (13-9) and Fresno City (19-3) are tied for second place at 5-2.

The Giants (17-5, 7-1) came from behind to defeat the Blue Devils for the second time in three days while winning their sixth straight game, a streak that also includes a win over state No. 3-ranked Fresno City on Feb. 2.

"No one really had it as hard as we did in that stretch. Playing Fresno and Merced back to back to back was an unbelievable task," Sequoias coach Ray Alvarado said. "And for them to rise up like that? You know today's game was dirty. It was hard, physical. We knew it. We were dragging. But I couldn't really be mad at them because the accomplishment is amazing. I'm very proud of them."

Merced led by four points (48-44) with 9:21 remaining in the game. Sequoias, however, outscored the Blue Devils 20-9 the rest of the way to pull away.

Sapphire Jones (Hanford High) sank two free throws with 5:17 left to put the Giants ahead for good at 51-50. Jones was a team-best 6 of 6 from the free-throw line, part of an 18-of-19 effort overall by Sequoias.

Merced trailed by two points (59-57) after a steal and a basket by Jaydon Williams with 5 seconds to play. But Sequoias' Celeste Lewis (Sierra Pacific-Hanford) was immediately fouled on the in-bounds pass and sank two free throws to essentially put the score out of reach.

A'Ajah Slocum's 3-pointer at the buzzer for Merced was off the mark.

"The good thing is they are hitting shots at the right time and making their free throws. We're getting to the free-throw line," Alvarado said. "And when it's time to play a little better defense, we are. I'm still not real pleased with how we play defensively. We have some bad matchups, especially in the post. So we're trying to have to work through that. But I'm definitely pleased with how they are playing together."

Lewis finished with a game-high 22 points to lead Sequoias.

Jones delivered 14 points, seven rebounds, three assists and a steal.

Serena Ybarra (Coalinga) contributed seven points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals, Nikola Hudson (Florida) had seven points, Ayon Carter (Oakland) had four points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals, and Hailee Edwards (Ridgeview-Bakersfield) added two points and six rebounds for the Giants.

On Feb. 5, Sequoias handed Merced its first conference loss, coming from behind to beat the Blue Devils 63-55 on the road.

The Giants trailed 31-27 at halftime, and were down 45-41 with 8:56 left in the game following a free throw by Merced's Amelia Smith.

But Jones scored 10 of her game-leading 19 points during a game-closing 22-10 run as Sequoias surged into the lead.

Hudson made two free throws with 4:33 remaining to put the Giants ahead to stay at 53-51.

Sequoias held Merced scoreless over the final 2:02 to knock off the Blue Devils, who captured the last CVC title in 2019-2020 before the 2020-2021 conference season was canceled because of Covid-19 safety precautions.

The Giants will look to close out a CVC title run with road games at 7 p.m. Feb. 14 at Reedley, 5 p.m. Feb. 14 at Porterville and 7 p.m. Feb. 18 at West Hills-Lemoore.

"We've got a good tradition here the last seven, eight years," Alvarado said. "For them to have an opportunity to cut the nets down themselves is pretty good right now. We've just got to make sure we stay grounded and finish the job."