By Nick Giannandrea / COS ATHLETICS
There are a combined 16 California community college men's and women's basketball teams still alive heading into the final weekend of the season.
Two are from College of the Sequoias.
The third-seeded Giants' men pulled away late from No. 6 Contra Costa for a 91-82 victory at Porter Field House, while the sixth-seeded women went on the road and upset No. 3 City College of San Francisco 88-73 in a pair of final-round Northern California Regional playoff games March 5.
Sequoias is the only community college in the state to advance both its men's and women's teams to the Elite Eight state championship tournament, scheduled for March 10-13 at West Hills-Lemoore College.
Both Giants' teams are scheduled to play in 7 p.m. showcase quarterfinal games, with the women facing Southern California No. 1 Mt. San Antonio on March 10 and the men taking on SoCal No. 3 San Bernardino Valley on March 11.
"It's just really exciting. I told the boys, and they've known this all along, the Elite Eight at this level is essentially the final four at the (NCAA) Division I level," Sequoias' men's coach Dallas Jensen said. "You know, you've got well over 100 teams that are all competing for one common goal, and that's to get to the Elite Eight, to enjoy that experience for what it's worth, and to have an opportunity to win a state championship. So we knocked out another goal tonight, and I am super proud of our guys for competing for a full 40 minutes and really buying into what we were trying to do on both ends of the floor."
After rolling to 20 wins on the season by at least a 10-point margin, Sequoias' men played a nailbiter against Contra Costa (23-5) before a packed and boisterous home crowd.
The score was tied 11 times and there were 10 lead changes before the Giants (26-4) went ahead for good at 64-63 on a basket by Terri Miller (Clovis North High) with 6:44 remaining in the game.
That kickstarted a 9-1 run -- capped by a Bryce Fitzgerald (Las Vegas) layup off a feed from Miller -- that allowed the Giants to extend the lead to 71-64 with 5 minutes left.
"They were hitting a lot of shots, but we're built for adversity," Fitzgerald said. "We've been through a lot of adversity this season and we came through at the end."
Contra Costa made it a two-point game (71-69) on Donovan Sanor's 3-pointer with 4:13 to play.
But the Central Valley Conference champion Giants received consecutive 3-pointers from Ryan Johnson (Hanford) and Fitzgerald -- off assists from Conner Jackson (Dublin) and Seth Dawson (Antioch), respectively -- to fuel an 8-0 surge that pushed the lead to 10 points (79-69) with 1:53 left.
Dawson fed Scott Ator (Murphy, Texas) for a dunk that essentially sealed the outcome at 88-78 with 25 seconds remaining.
"It was awesome. These are the best games to play in," said Johnson, the CVC's MVP who finished with 18 points, four rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block. "They were very athletic. We just went out and did what our coach was saying.
"Our coach sat us down at every timeout and he'd call a setplay and we'd run it and just execute it. You've got to give it up to everyone that was on the floor. We did what we were told, and the outcome is the outcome."
Bay Valley Conference champion Contra Costa, which entered riding an eight-game winning streak, led for most of the first half, including a nine-point cushion (25-16) following a 3-pointer by Seneca Willoughby at the 8:15 mark.
After an Ator jumper gave the Giants an early 6-4 lead, Sequoias didn't lead for the rest of the first half. Johnson's 3-pointer with 24 seconds left forged a 37-37 tie at halftime.
The Comets shot 46.7 percent (7 of 15) from 3-point range in the first half.
"Contra Costa is really good. They are really talented. As talented as anyone we've seen this year," Jensen said. "They are extremely well coached. They play hard. They are full of athletes and shooters and versatile players. I just thought our guys were focused, they were composed, they were extremely physical and they stuck to the game plan. I thought that was the biggest thing. Contra Costa came out extremely hot and got us down by as many as nine in the first half. And we stayed true to who we are. We continued to play inside out and continued to get paint touches. Those things kind of translated as the game went on and really helped us get a win tonight.
"Our execution was so good down the stretch. Whether it was calling sets with live ball situations or out of timeouts. Everytime we drew something up, the boys executed it and got a bucket. And that to me is a sign of a team that is really focused, invested and playing as a collective unit."
Fitzgerald scored a game-high 24 points while grabbing 10 rebounds and making one assist to lead the Giants to their 13th straight victory.
"Since the beginning of the season we've been working for this," Fitzgerald said. "I'm just happy to make it there with my brothers."
Dawson had a triple-double, finishing with 15 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds.
"It was hard, man. A hard fought one," Dawson said. "You know, we didn't really do what we're supposed to do defensive principal wise in the first half. They hit a lot of shots. That's a very good team. But I felt like we stuck together and got a huge win."
Sequoias also received 15 points, six rebounds, an assist, a block and a steal from Ator; 12 points, three rebounds and two assists from Miller; three points and a rebound from Andre Treadwell (Sacramento); two points and four rebounds from Ryan Troutman (Kerman); and two points, two rebounds and two assists from Jackson.
The Giants' men will be making their third straight trip to the Elite Eight in a championship season, and the 16th appearance in program history. Inland Empire Athletic Conference champion San Bernardino Valley (25-5) earned its spot in the Elite Eight with a 66-62 victory over SoCal No. 6 Riverside.
Other quarterfinal games include North No. 4 Las Positas (27-3) vs. South No. 1 West Los Angeles (27-3) at 1 p.m.; South No. 3 Citrus (23-6) vs. North No. 2 West Valley (26-3) at 3 p.m. and South No. 4 MiraCosta (17-14) vs. North No. 1 San Francisco (29-1) at 5 p.m.
The men's semifinals are scheduled for 5 and 7 p.m. March 12, with the final at 3:30 p.m. March 13.
Sequoias hasn't won the state title since 1982. The program's only other state championship came in 1953.
"We've worked so hard for this," Dawson said. "This is a blessing. And we're going to push for three more."
The Giants' women's team punched their ticket to the Elite Eight in San Francisco about the same time as the men's game was tipping off in Visalia.
After giving up the game's first six points, the CVC champion Sequoias' women responded with an 11-2 run -- highlighted by a pair of baskets 3 seconds apart from Celeste Lewis (Sierra Pacific-Hanford) -- that gave the Giants a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the way.
"It's been an incredible journey for this group," said Sequoias women's coach Ray Alvarado, who has seen injury, grades and defection whittle his roster from 14 to 10 players over the course of the season. "I'm obviously extremely proud of them. They are playing really good basketball right now. Defensively, they have come alive at the right time. And offensively, we're hitting shots. They have answered the bell."
The Giants' lead grew as big as 10 points (24-14) for the first time on a 3-pointer by Tiana Holland (Washington Union-Easton) with 1:40 remaining in the first quarter.
Coast North Conference champion San Francisco (21-6), which entered winners of 10 straight, got as close as one point twice: 35-34 late in the second quarter and 48-47 with 4:02 left in the third quarter.
But Sequoias pulled away each time.
The Giants closed the third quarter on a 14-4 run -- highlighted by five points from CVC Player of the Year Sapphire Jones (Hanford) -- to build a 63-51 advantage.
A jumper by Ayon Carter (Oakland) extended Sequoias' lead to 21 points (84-63) with 3:53 remaining in the game, and essentially sealed the program's fifth trip to the Elite Eight in the past seven championship seasons. The state playoffs were canceled in 2021 because of Covid-19 safety precautions.
Jones led Sequoias with 28 points.
The Giants also received double-digit scoring from Serena Ybarra (Coalinga) with 15 points, Carter with 14, Lewis with 13 and Holland with 10.
Taylor Roth (Sanger) scored four points, Hailee Edwards (Ridgeview-Bakersfield) had two points and Dyaneli Diaz (McFarland) added one point for Sequoias.
"Offensively in the beginning, we were matching them, but they kept getting easy buckets on us," Alvarado said. "Some of our better players all year (Lewis and Ybarra) were showing signs that they were tired. At halftime, I told them that we handled what (San Francisco) was going to do. All we had to do was clean up some things defensively. (Reserves) Ayon, Taylor and Tiana, they all came ready to contribute. Then in the second half, Celeste got back on track. Same with Serena. It was a heck of a team win."
The Giants' quarterfinal opponent, Mt. San Antonio, clinched its spot in the Elite Eight with a 67-47 victory over No. 9 Long Beach during the final round of the SoCal Regionals. The state No. 3-ranked Mounties (25-3) have won 18 straight games since a 65-61 overtime loss to Canyons in the semifinals of the Sequoias-hosted Gilcrest Invitational on Dec. 5.
"Getting to the state tournament is tough in and of itself," Alvarado said. "Then once you're there, it's whoever is playing the best at that time. It's not who wants it the most, cause they all want it the most. That's why they are there. Mt. SAC is tough, but I like the matchup. If you want to be the best, you've got to beat the best."
The other women's quarterfinals include North No. 3 Butte (23-6) vs. South No. 2 Irvine Valley (25-2) at 1 p.m., South No. 3 Moorpark (24-3) vs. North No. 2 Sierra (25-3) at 3 p.m. and South No. 4 Palomar (26-2) vs. North No. 1 San Joaquin Delta (28-2) at 5 p.m.
The semifinals are scheduled for 1 and 3 p.m. March 12, with the final at 1 p.m. March 13.
It's the fourth time that the Giants' men's and women's teams have reached the Elite Eight in the same season. It also happened in 1991, 1995 and 2019.
Sequoias' women are making their 12th appearance in the Elite Eight overall, with the program's only state championship coming in 1987.