Giants take aim at completing undefeated season, winning state women's basketball title
By Nick Giannandrea
COS ATHLETICS
It started as unfinished business for the bunch from Butte.
It morphed into a mission to win for their injured spark plug.
It has crystallized as a quest to honor a beloved member of the family.
The motivation for College of the Sequoias to capture the California Community College Athletic Association women's basketball championship has only intensified as the wins have mounted -- 30 in a row without a loss, to date -- during a season filled with trials and tribulations.
And make no mistake, winning the state title has been the Giants' ultimate goal since two-time Northern California Coach of the Year Tyler Newton was hired away from Butte College last spring, and four players from his state semifinalist Roadrunners -- Morgan Trigueiro (Caruthers), Jocelyn Medina (Arbuckle), Campbell Vieg (Chico) and Karine Dhaliwal (Yuba) -- transferred to Sequoias continue playing for him.
"We didn't come here to lose," Trigueiro said early this season.
The Giants open their final push for the state championship when they face Palomar (24-6) in a state quarterfinal at 5 p.m. March 14 at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut.
"It's very exciting," Medina said. "But we've got to keep our heads down. Keep working."
Medina and the rest of the bunch from Butte -- including Newton's assistant coaches Justin Scheringer and Annie Ward -- know all too well that the job is not done just by reaching the Elite Eight.
Not for this team.
Not after all they have been through over the past 12 months.
It was in this same venue on the same stage a season ago that Butte entered the Elite Eight as the state's top-ranked team and riding a 27-game winning streak. The Roadrunners were coming off a state runner-up finish in 2022-2023, and their sights were set on winning the title in 2023-2024.
But during the semifinals, Butte fell behind Southern California Regional No. 3-seeded Glendale 38-23 in the first half and never recovered during a heartbreaking 66-42 loss.
A little more than a month later, Sequoias hired Newton as its full-time replacement for Ray Alvarado, who stepped down before the 2023-2024 season to take a job as the head coach at NCAA Division II Hawaii Pacific.
Trigueiro, Medina and Vieg -- who all earned all-state honors last season -- followed Newton to Sequoias, as did Dhaliwal. The joined forces with three players from a Giants team that went 20-10 while reaching the NorCal Regional finals last season in Lucia Ricci (Seattle), Anisa Torres (Caruthers) and Teresa Sandoval (Hanford West). And that group of sophomores was bolstered by a talented freshman recruiting class featuring Tylie Hatcher (Cloverdale), Kaitlin Giacone (Eureka), Olivia Gill (Woodland), Mallary Gonzalez (Hoover-Fresno) and Maya McNeal (Marysville).
State pollsters took notice of the talent that Newton assembled, selecting Sequoias as the preseason No. 1-ranked team. Then the Giants went out and solidified that ranking during the opening weekend of the season with wins over the teams ranked No. 2 (Orange Coast, 81-63), No. 3 (Moorpark, 68-58) and No. 4 (San Antonio, 69-68).
Sequoias has been the unanimous No. 1 team by the state's coaches association ever since, cementing that status with nine wins over ranked opponents before Central Valley Conference play began, including second defeats of Orange Coast, Moorpark and Mt. SAC, as well as victories against No. 6 San Joaquin Delta, No. 7 Glendale and No. 12 Palomar.
"Obviously we've been the No. 1 team in the state for a very long time now," Medina said. "I think anyone in front of us is the same task. Whether it's a bad opponent or a good opponent, we approach every game like we're playing the championship."
But it hasn't been all smooth sailing for Sequoias.
The Giants have battled significant injuries all season.
Consider:
* Giacone, who worked her way into the starting lineup over the last third of the season, hasn't been 100 percent healthy all season but hasn't missed a game.
* Dhaliwal, key reserve, missed the season's first 15 games and the team's second-round NorCal Regional playoff game against Cabrillo.
* Gonzalez, who provides an inside presence off the bench, missed five games in the middle of the season.
* Hatcher, a sharp-shooting reserve, has been sidelined for the last 12 games and is not expected to play in the Elite Eight.
* And Vieg was lost for the rest of the season after going down during a 108-52 conference win over Taft on Feb. 1. It robbed Sequoias of its floor general, a player who was shooting 51.8 percent from the field and 40.5 percent on 3-point attempts while averaging 13.5 points, 5.7 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game.
"This team has been through so much, and we've gotten so close and we lean on each other," Trigueiro said. "We're so strong, and I love that."
Sequoias was dealt its toughest blow of the season with the unexpected death of assistant coach/recruiting coordinator Larry Trigueiro on Feb. 18, a day before the Giants' final game of the regular season. Larry Trigueiro, Morgan's father, was an icon in the community of Caruthers for his achievements in coaching and racing.
"This season is dedicated to Larry now," Medina said.
His funeral was on March 3. Five days later, the Giants routed Cabrillo 98-57 during their NorCal Regional opener behind 29 points from Morgan Trigueiro.
"Our heart and fight, especially this last month, has been tremendous," Newton said. "I don't know how many teams could have moved through that adversity like we did, and still got the job done. So credit to our players."
If Sequoias gets past South No. 4 Palomar, a team it defeated 80-60 on Dec. 21 during the Tommy Arellano North-South Showcase in Moorpark, it would advance to the semifinals against the winner between South No. 2 Mt. San Antonio (26-4) and North No. 3 Sierra (25-4), which tips off at 7 p.m. March 14.
The other quarterfinals feature South No. 1 and reigning state champion Orange Coast (25-5) against North No. 4 Folsom Lake (25-5) at 1 p.m., and North No. 2 San Joaquin Delta (22-8) against South No. 3 Glendale (25-4) at 3 p.m.
The semifinals are scheduled for 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. March 15, with the championship set for 3:30 p.m. March 16.
The Giants are out to become the college's second undefeated state women's basketball champion. The 1987 team went 35-0 under coach Tom Gilcrest.
"We're going to play for each other," Giacone said. "If we show up and play good and don't face any injuries or stuff like that, I think we have a really good shot."
Mt. San Antonio College is located at 1100 N. Grand Ave. in Walnut.
General admission tickets are $15, with seniors 60 and older and students with college identification $10. Children 6 and younger are free.
All tournament games will be streamed live by the Bay Area Online Sports Network for a fee at https://baosn.tv/cccaa/.
