Giants roll past Reedley, move closer to CVC women's basketball title
By Nick Giannandrea
COS ATHLETICS
College of the Sequoias has moved another step closer to capturing its fifth Central Valley Conference women's basketball title in the past seven championship seasons.
Behind 17 points, nine rebounds, four steals and an assist from Sapphire Jones (Hanford High), the Giants maintained their lead atop the CVC standings following a 71-44 blowout of Reedley on Feb. 9 at Porter Field House.
Sequoias (18-5, 8-1) leads second-place Fresno City (20-3, 6-2) by 1 1/2 games and third-place Merced (13-9, 5-2) by two games. The Giants will capture the CVC title with wins in two of its last three regular season games: 7 p.m. Feb. 14 at Reedley (7-14, 3-4), 5 p.m. Feb. 16 at Porterville (3-15, 2-4) and 7 p.m. Feb. 18 at West Hills-Lemoore (15-9, 5-4).
"We're getting closer," said Sequoias coach Ray Alvarado, whose team won outright or shared conference titles in 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2015. "We've just got to slow it down and take it one game at a time."
As Alvarado expected after a six-day stretch that saw his team face state No. 7-ranked Fresno City and No. 21 Merced in back to back to back games, the Giants got off to a slow start against Reedley. The Tigers held the lead through most of the first quarter and took their last lead (19-17) on a Amanpreet Kaur basket with 9:29 left in the second quarter.
But Sequoias responded with an 18-2 run -- led by five points from Jones -- to take control of the game.
The Giants outscored Reedley 11-6 to open the third quarter while extending its lead to 15 points (46-31) on a layup by Serena Ybarra (Coalinga) with 3:39 left in the third quarter.
"We started off slow, but in the second half we got it together and started playing harder," Jones said.
Sequoias' lead grew as big as 28 points (67-39) on a 3-pointer by Taylor Roth (Sanger) at the 4:01 mark of the fourth.
"I knew we were going to come out sluggish after the hard weeks we've had," Alvarado said. "But it was good to see them regroup at halftime and get back to what's made us successful. That's pressuring the ball full court and getting some traps and turnovers."
The Giants received 11 points, four rebounds, three steals and an assist from Tiana Holland (Washington Union-Easton); 10 points, six assists, four rebounds and three steals from Dyaneli Diaz (McFarland); 10 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals from Nikola Hudson (Florida); nine points, eight rebounds, four steals, three blocks and two assists from Ybarra; two points, seven rebounds, two blocks and a steal from Hailee Edwards (Ridgeview-Bakersfield); and seven points, three rebounds, four steals, two assists and two blocks and a steal from Celeste Lewis (Sierra Pacific-Hanford) while winning their seventh straight game.
"They are playing as good as they can play right now, especially off of a rough stretch there," Alvarado said. "It took a toll. You could tell today. Our shots were not falling and our legs were kind of dragging. But they are playing together and being unselfish and enjoying the moment."
If the Giants hold on to their lead atop the CVC, it will be the first time since 1990 that Sequoias has won both men's and women's conference titles in the same season. The Giants men's team clinched a share of their first CVC title since 2001 on Feb. 9 with a 103-55 win over Reedley.
"We just need to work hard and play together, and we can do it," Jones said.
