Sierra Canyon gets revenge and Southern Region Open Division title with 60-51 win against Etiwanda
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. – On Tuesday night, Sierra Canyon knocked off an undefeated national title contender, avenged a painful loss, and made itself the frontrunner for an Open Division State title all in one fell swoop.
The Trailblazers took the lead late in the first quarter and never relinquished it, winning 60-51 at Etiwanda – where they lost 69-57 in the Southern Section championship game only 10 days prior. Now they're packing their bags for Sacramento, where they will be the slight favorite to win a State championship against Central Coast Section juggernaut Archbishop Mitty.
In the previous meeting, 5-star G/F Juju Watkins played a dominant first half of basketball, scoring 20 of her 24 points before halftime but later getting into foul trouble and fouling out. This time, she picked up where she left off, once again setting the tone on both ends early, and finishing with game-highs of 29 points, 15 rebounds, and three blocks for SC. Izela Arenas scored eight points for Sierra Canyon, MacKenly Randolph scored seven and made her presence felt on the glass, and Kayla Malek and Crystal Wang added seven points each as well.
The Trailblazers led 16-13 after one quarter and 27-26 at halftime. While their lead was small, they seemed to set the tone throughout most of the first half, attacking the rim aggressively and winning the glass. Still, no lead is safe around Etiwanda, a dominant third quarter team all season long, and whether that lead was one, five, or 10 points coming into halftime, the air would've been that of a toss-up.
But this time it was Sierra Canyon that came out with a haymaker to start the second half. In the first 93 seconds, SC scored seven unanswered points and got Etiwanda star F Kennedy Smith her second foul. The Eagles called a timeout with 6:27 to play in the third quarter, but by halfway through the third, Sierra Canyon had opened up its first double-digit lead of the game, and Smith picked up fouls number three and four.
Etiwanda managed to hold up in its minutes without Smith to finish the third quarter, trimming the deficit to 42-35 to finish the frame. But it was all Sierra Canyon from there – until the game was too far out of reach.
While Sierra Canyon played staunch defense all night, the Eagles did consistently manufacture makable shots, and they were simply off from both the paint and the perimeter. Throw in that SC did a bang-up job on the defensive glass for the most part, and Etiwanda had its lowest-scoring night of the season.
The first half of the fourth quarter was no different. Sierra Canyon gradually boosted its lead back up to double-digits and eventually took a 53-39 lead with a little over three minutes to play.
If not for a valiant late rally by Etiwanda, the final score would've better reflected that the outcome was never in question by late in the game. In just over the last two minutes of the game, the Eagles scored 12 points, and were able to keep the final score quite respectable by playing the foul game surgically. Their shots started falling and they even cut the deficit to 57-51 with 16.1 seconds to play, but the new CIFSS Open Division champs fell short for the first and only time this season.
Destiny Agubata finished with 17 points and six rebounds for Etiwanda, Aliyahna "Puff" Morris scored 14 points, and Kennedy Smith had 10 points and six rebounds.
