Giants women's basketball rolls past Feather River in home debut

By Nick Giannandrea

COS ATHLETICS

Playing as close to full strength as its been so far this season, College of the Sequoias women's basketball team flexed its muscle against Feather River.

Behind 25 points from Geizzle Jones, the state No. 19-ranked Giants rolled past Feather River 81-54 on Nov. 14 at Porter Field House in the home debut of new coach Doug White.

"It was nice to have them all here," said White, a five-year Giants' assistant who took over as head coach when Ray Alvarado left for a job at NCAA Division II Hawaii Pacific.

In particular, Sequoias (4-3 overall) benefitted from having Jones (Bullard High-Fresno) back in action.

Jones, one of two returning players from a team that went 28-3 and made a trip to the State's Elite Eight last season, missed the Giants' three games at the Moorpark Tournament on Nov. 9-11 because of a family commitment.

Sequoias trailed Feather River 5-4 when Jones entered the game at the 6 minute, 2 second mark of the first quarter.

The Giants led 17-12 by the end of the first with Jones contributing four points.

Jones scored 12 points in the second quarter on 5 of 8 shooting, including making two of her three 3-pointers, as Sequoias surged to a commanding lead.

Her 3-pointer with 2 seconds remaining in the second quarter, off an assist from Taylor Whitfield (Sierra Pacific-Hanford), gave the Giants a 15-point lead (38-23) at halftime. Jones finished with four rebounds, two steals, an assist and a block.

"She's so smooth in her shot," said White, who became the winningest girls coach in Central Section history during his 23 seasons at Corcoran High. "(Teams) are concentrating on her, so we're doing things to get her the ball in the open where she can just shoot. And it's working. When she's on, she's on. And she played good defense."

Feather River (2-3) never got closer than 11 points the rest of the way.

The Giants' lead reached 20 points (53-23) on a jumper by Kyla Wandick (Bakersfield High) with 2:39 remaining in the third quarter, and grew as big as 31 points (80-49) on a 3-pointer by Maricela Moreno (Tulare Union) with 1:32 left in the game.

The Golden Eagles beat Sequoias' Central Valley Conference rival Porterville 70-64 in overtime Nov. 13, and gave the Giants a tough game during a 56-46 loss at the Delta Tournament on Nov. 5.

"We were a little bit worried because they did a great job of shooting the basketball against Porterville last night," White said. "But we played pretty tight defense on the shooters, and I liked the way our offense started playing loose. Once they started playing loose, we tore them up."

Sequoias has been without five of its 13 players at various points through the season's first two weeks. Sophomore returner Maci Chavez (Kingsburg) remains out with an injury and Teresa Sandoval (Hanford West) went down in the second half with a right leg injury. White said Sandoval is expected to miss about a week of action.

Wandick, a sophomore transfer from NCAA Division II Academy of Art, was the Giants' second leading scorer with 10 points. She also had four rebounds and two assists.

Sequoias received contributions from all 12 players who suited up, including eight points, four assists and two rebounds from Jacqueline Ruiz (Kingsburg); and seven points, six rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block from Anisa Torres (Caruthers).

The Giants also received six points and a rebound from Sarah Upshaw (Las Vegas); six points, a rebound and an assist from Trinity Ferro (Corcoran); five points, five assists and three rebounds from Sandoval; five points and three assists from Whitfield; four points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals from Lucia Ricci (Seattle); three points from Moreno; two points, two assists and a rebound from Andrea Perez (Porterville); and five rebounds and an assist from Darleth Felix (Tulare Union).

"We've been up and down," White said. "We're struggling about execution, getting everything at the right time at the right place. But it's going to come."

Sequoias will be on the road the next two weeks, playing at Canyons (3-3) at 3 p.m. Nov. 21 and at Hartnell (1-2) at 5 p.m. Nov. 28.

The Giants return to Porter Field House when they host the Gilcrest Invitational on Nov. 30-Dec. 2. Sequoias will face state No. 16 Ventura (3-0) in its Gilcrest Invitational opener at 7 p.m. Nov. 30.