The tables were turned in Tuesday night’s Southern California Regional Open Division Girls’ Basketball Championship in Chatsworth.
A year ago it was Sierra Canyon who tried and succeeded in avenging a loss to Etiwanda in the final of the southern section. This time it was Etiwanda’s chance for revenge and the Eagles took full advantage of their chance by stunning Sierra Canyon 55-54 on their home field and ruining the Trailblazers’ perfect season.
Sophomore point guard Aliyahna Morris drove to the basket and was fouled with 2.4 seconds left. She swung the top of a one-on-one to give Etiwanda a 55-54 lead, but her second try hit the rim. Teammate Salah Hemingway grabbed the rebound but was tied right away and a jump ball called with .9 on the clock. The possession arrow pointed to Sierra Canyon, which went to USC-bound superstar Juju Watkins, who took a dribble and tried to lift the ball wide, but she couldn’t get off before the buzzer sounded.
Finishing on 16 points, Watkins recovered from a missed free throw by Morris and drove across the floor for a layup to make the score 54–54 with 11 seconds remaining. Etiwanda handed the ball over halfway and put it in Morris’s hands to set up the winning free throw.
“I’ll handle that myself [free throws] all the time, so I’m surprised when the first one didn’t go the first time,” Morris said. “We felt good in the fourth quarter because no team was so close to them so late in the game. It was a group effort [Watkins]. We tried to push her to the left and make it as difficult as possible for her.”
Sierra Canyon (31-1) won every quarter in its 70-57 victory in the Southern Division Finals on Feb. 25 at the Honda Center to lead 25-18 at halftime on Tuesday. However, Etiwanda (31-3) burst into flames in the third quarter, leveling the game at the end of that insane eight minutes.
Etiwanda advances to its first state final under Stan Delus, now in his seventh season at the helm.
“At the end of the day, as bad as we shot in the first half, we were only seven behind,” said Delus. “I told the girls it’s only about two or three possessions. Defensively we were still good, we just had to jump out and not let them run.”
Watkins, who signed with USC in November, was well below her season average of 24 points and was not even her team’s leading scorer. It was Izela Arenas, daughter of former NBA guard Gilbert Arenas, who graduated from college at age 17. Kennedy Smith had 21 for Etiwanda, Morris had 17 and Hemingway added 13.
“We work a lot on our free throws,” said Delus. “I told Aliyahna that you have been with me for two years, you are a soldier and you know how to fight. Now fight through the moment and you’ll be fine.
The teams’ first meeting was a free-throw fest, as the two teams combined for 44 of 49 attempts. The rematch was played at a breathtaking pace as it took just 12 minutes to play the first quarter and less than 30 real-time minutes to complete the first half.
Etiwanda will play San Jose Archbishop Mitty (28-2) for the state title at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
Source: LA Times