Etiwanda pulls a stunner against Sierra Canyon
CHATSWORTH » It had been 374 days since the Etiwanda girls basketball team last beat Sierra Canyon, which was also the last time the Trailblazers lost a game, period. On Tuesday night, the Eagles did it again.
Etiwanda beat Sierra Canyon, 55-54, for the CIF State SoCal Regional Open Division championship and a spot in the state championships, which are slated for Saturday.
“I’m exhausted,” Eagles coach Stan Delus said. “This rivalry didn’t start last year. It started in 2018 and me and (Alicia) Komacki have been battling ever since.”
Etiwanda’s Kennedy Smith led all players with 21 points and Aliyahna Morris added 17 points. Izela Arenas put up 17 points for Sierra Canyon and Juju Watkins had 16.
Watkins tied the game at 54-54 on a layup with 10 seconds left in the game. Morris made a free throw with 2.4 seconds remaining for the win.
“I don’t know why we played the worst game of our lives on the biggest stage of our lives,” Sierra Canyon coach Alicia Komacki said. “I am proud that we fought through it. We knew we weren’t playing well and we didn’t give up and we didn’t point fingers.”
It’s the fourth time the two schools have met in the last two postseasons combined. Last season, the Trailblazers (31-1) lost to the Eagles (31-3) in the CIF Southern Section
Open Division final — a game in which Watkins fouled out in the fourth quarter.
That was the last time that Sierra Canyon had lost. Since that game, they’ve become the No. 1 team in the country.
Sierra Canyon avenged that loss by winning the CIF State Regional final by nine points and went on to win a CIF State title. They also beat Etiwanda 70-57 in this season’s CIF-SS Open Division final.
On Tuesday night, Sa’lah Hemingway hit a free throw to give Etiwanda a brief lead, but Izela Arenas put Sierra Canyon back out front, 7-5, with a 3-pointer. The Trailblazers put together a short run with an additional Mackenly Randolph putback and another three from Arenas for an 11-5 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Hemingway scored the first points of the second frame on a layup at the 4:30 mark. Sierra Canyon went on to score 15 points, including a deep three from point guard Christy Reynoso with 10 seconds to go until halftime.
The Trailblazers held a 2518 lead on the other side of the break. The Eagles hung tight and took over the pace of the game. Smith hit a three then made a layup to give Etiwanda a 32-29 advantage with less than four minutes left in the quarter, but Sierra Canyon came back to tie it at 38-38 before time expired.
“We had a job,” Smith said. “We lost to them earlier in the season and I think we took that to heart. So we came here and put it all on the floor.”