Centennial defeats Santiago for Big VIII tournament crown

Correspondent

Centennial interim girls basketball coach Kinyada Johnson said she and her players will take whatever playoff road the CIF Southern Section gives them when the pairings are released Sunday.

What was left for the Huskies and Santiago on Thursday night was their third matchup of the season, but this one was for the Big VIII League tournament title. Santiago refused to go away, answering every time Centennial threatened to take a double-digit lead, but the Huskies held on 6055 at Roosevelt High School.

Eight teams will be chosen to compete for the CIF-SS Open Division title. Centennial entered the final week of the regular season No. 8 in the Division 1 rankings, but Open Division teams can come from any division.

“We’re ready for whatever comes next, whether that’s the Open Division or Division 1,” Johnson said. “This game is going to help us because it forced us to stay together against a quality team and end our regular season with a good win.”

Andrea Alamo and Rylee Ghent sparked Santiago (17-11) to a one-point lead after the first quarter of play, combining for half of the Sharks’ six makes from 3-point distance in Thursday’s game.

Tierra Taylor’s 3-pointer plus a jumper from the free-throw line gave Centennial (17-10) its largest first half lead of the night at 32-23. Santiago responded with a 10-2 run to trim the deficit 34-33 at halftime. Jayda Cobbs scored seven of those 10 points, including a 3-pointer off of an out-of-bounds play from the baseline.

EASTVALE >>

“We went on a little bit of a losing streak after our head coach (Kareem Haughton) went on leave, but we’ve put the work in and here we are,” Taylor said. “We’re ready for whatever challenge comes in the playoffs.”

Santiago’s Zawadi Ogot converted a three-point play to tie the game at 38. Centennial then pushed their lead to 48-41 with a minute remaining after Cydnee Bryant’s put-back and 3-pointer from the top of the arc.

“Get comfortable with being uncomfortable is one of my favorite sayings, and that’s what playing against Santiago is about,” Bryant said. “They don’t quit, but neither do we. And that’s what a game like that tests, mental toughness, especially playing three games in this timeframe.”

Santiago again answered, this time with a 7-2 run sparked by another Alamo shot from beyond the arc, to close the deficit to 5250 with 3:16 left. Bryant answered the run with another free-throw line jumper, and Taylor scored four straight points to stretch the lead to 58-52 with a minute left.

Ghent connected on a 3-pointer with 4.9 seconds remaining to make it a five-point game, but the Sharks fell for a third straight time against their Rimpau Avenue neighbors.

Taylor and Bryant led Centennial with 17 points apiece, and Aniyah Offutt added 12 more for the Huskes. Cobbs led all scorers with 19 points, and Ghent and Alamo added 17 and 11, respectively, for Santiago.

In the third-place game, King defeated Roosevelt 62-41 behind 20 points from Amya Moody and 17 from Martha Firmo to clinch the league’s final automatic playoff bid.