Giants fall to Fresno in clash for CVC women's basketball lead
By Nick Giannandrea
COS ATHLETICS
College of the Sequoias' quest for a third straight Central Valley Conference women's basketball championship has taken a significant, but not insurmountable, hit.
Fresno City emerged as the conference's lone undefeated team following a 77-73 victory over the Giants on Jan. 27 at Porter Field House.
The state No. 6-ranked Rams (18-4, 6-0) closed the first half of CVC play with a 1 1/2-game lead on the No. 17 Giants (14-7, 4-1), who saw a five-game winning streak come to an end. The rematch is scheduled for 7 p.m. Feb. 21 in Fresno.
Sequoias returns to action at 7 p.m. Jan. 31 when it hosts Reedley (13-7, 4-1). The Giants and Tigers are tied for second place in the CVC.
Fresno City sank five 3-pointers while jumping out to a 23-11 lead through the first quarter.
The Rams converted another five 3-pointers in the second quarter as they expanded their lead to 43-24 at halftime.
"We didn't want to get in a track meet," Giants coach Doug White said. "We wanted to come down and use some time on offense. And they can't do that for some reason, I don't know. They've been taught not to do that, but we get in a track meet and now we're 19 down and we've got to claw our way back in."
Madison Johnson's basket to open the third quarter gave Fresno City its biggest lead at 21 points (45-24).
Sequoias responded by outscoring the Rams 24-3 the rest of the way to forge a 48-48 tie. Geizzle Jones (Bullard High) scored nine of her 20 points during Sequoias' third-quarter rally.
"They attacked the basket. You've got to grind it out and not take easy shots just because they are there," White said. "They are tempting, but we went 2 for 11 (on 3-pointers in the first half). And we shoot ourselves into a hole every time. We've done it time after time."
The Rams, however, opened the fourth quarter with an 11-0 run, including consecutive 3-pointers from Briajanae Wade, Aleyah Higa and Angela Whitfield, to go ahead 59-48.
Fresno City extended its lead to 14 points (67-53) on a 3-pointer by Wade with 4:58 left in the game.
Sequoias made one more charge, going on a 15-6 run to make it a five-point game (73-68) with 41 seconds left on a 3-pointer by Jones, but, with the Giants forced to foul, the Rams made all four of their free throw attempts over the final 30 seconds to hold on.
Kyla Wandick (Bakersfield) led Sequoias with 21 points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal, while Jones also added three rebounds, two steals, an assist and a block.
Sequoias also received 10 points, seven rebounds, two assists and a steal from Lucia Ricci (Seattle, Wash.); nine points, eight rebounds, five steals, an assist and a block from Anisa Torres (Caruthers); seven points, a rebound and an assist from Taylor Whitfield (Sierra Pacific); three points from Maci Chavez (Kingsburg); two points, one assist and one steal from Teresa Sandoval (Hanford West); one point, four rebounds, eight assists and two steals from Trinity Ferro (Corcoran); and seven rebounds and an assist from Darleth Felix (Tulare Union).
The Giants open the second half of CVC play at 7 p.m. Feb. 7 by hosting Merced (5-15, 1-4).
"We can't go through another round like we did so far, where we're struggling with these weaker teams because we're not following the game plan," White said. "As soon as we come out with a lead, they shoot us out of a lead. They won't follow the directions, which is don't do that. Just attack the basket, get fouled and control the pace of the game. So our thing is in the second round, we have to start blowing teams out. We have to do what we can do, and if we do that, when we roll into Fresno, we'll know that if we follow the game plan we can do what we need to do."
