Giants stifle Delta for third place in 48th annual Tom Gilcrest Invitational women's basketball tournament

By Nick Giannandrea

COS ATHLETICS

The rollercoaster ride of a season for College of the Sequoias women's basketball team reached a new high during the final day of the 48th annual Tom Gilcrest Invitational.

The Giants held perennial state power San Joaquin Delta 28 points below its season scoring average while rolling to a 63-47 victory Dec. 6 at Porter Field House in the third-place game of the eight-team, showcase tournament featuring six squads ranked in the preseason Top 20 by the California Community College Women's Basketball Coaches Association.

"Holding Delta to 47 points is pretty absurd," Sequoias coach Tyler Newton said. "They are a very quality basketball team. They have unbelievable athletes. They have great 3-point shooting."

Beating preseason No. 4-ranked Delta capped a wild week that saw preseason the No. 2 Giants (5-5) lose to unranked and sub-.500 Sacramento City 75-74 in a nonconference home game Dec. 1, beat unranked Los Angeles Valley 82-49 in their Gilcrest opener Dec. 4, and lose in the tournament semifinals to No. 21 Butte 71-65 on Dec. 5.

"Thursday (Dec. 4), I knew who we were. Yesterday (Dec. 5), I didn't. And today (Dec. 6), I know who we are again," Newton said. "Again, we've been saying it all year, we have the pieces to be a good basketball team and compete against anybody and beat anybody. But our consistency and the way we've been playing hasn't been there. It was nice to show up today."

The Giants made a couple of changes against Delta (6-2), inserting Claire Olia (Walnut) and Izabel Mendez (Caruthers) into the starting lineup and employing a new defensive scheme they have yet to practice.

The moves paid immediate dividends.

Olia, who only played 3 minutes during the loss to Butte, logged 33 minutes against the Mustangs while contributing four points, five rebounds and five assists. Mendez delivered eight points, four rebounds, two assists and a steal.

And both helped spearhead a Sequoias' defensive effort that limited Delta to 28.6 percent shooting (18 of 63) from the field, including 11.5 percent (3 of 26) on 3-pointers.

"Just trying to find something that meshes," Newton said. "I went a little bit bigger today because I thought we needed to rebound a little better. It was a physical game. Honestly, I can start any one of those girls at any given time. We're pretty deep. I just wanted to mix it up today."

The Giants were particularly effective against the two players Newton felt they had to shut down: reigning all-state performer Aaliyah Youngblood and 3-point threat Isabella Azzolino.

Youngblood, who was averaging 18 points per game, was limited to eight points on 3 of 10 shooting. Azzolino entered averaging 10 points a game and finished with three on 1 of 8 shooting, all 3-pointers.

"I thought our adherence to the scouting report in regards to (Youngblood) and (Azzolino) was phenomenal," Newton said. "When we lock in and do what we're supposed to do, it really matters."

After falling behind 15-2 right out of the gate a night earlier against Butte, Sequoias flipped the script and jumped out to a 9-0 lead against Delta.

The Mustangs made it a two-point game (14-12) at the end of the first quarter, but the Giants got a pair of 3-pointers from Gabby Brooks (Henderson, Nev.) during an 8-2, second quarter-opening run en route to building a 10-point lead (31-21) by halftime.

Delta made it a one-point game (31-30) as Fajr Cuthbertson scored all her team's points in a 9-0 run to start the third quarter.

Sequoias, however, never surrendered the lead and re-established a 10-point cushion (46-36) on a Brooks 3-pointer with 2 minutes and 5 seconds remaining in the third.

The Giants' lead reached its zenith of 17 points (61-44) with 1:54 left in the fourth on a jumper by Olivia Gill (Woodland) off an assist from Nyla Anderson (Austin, Texas).

Anderson was one of three Sequoias' players to log five assists. The Giants had 19 assists overall.

"Yesterday we talked about how selfish we were, and we were forcing bad shots," Newton said. "Today we moved the ball. When you move the ball, it finds open girls and they shoot shots with confidence. I felt like we finished better at the rim tonight, too."

Brooks led Sequoias with 23 points to go along with three rebounds.

Gill contributed 12 points and 12 rebounds in her best performance of the season, while Anderson had 12 points and two rebounds.

The Giants also received two points, five assists and three rebounds from Kalysa Phanhsavang (Stockton); two points and three rebounds from Demi Boykin (Marysville); two rebounds and an assist from Sydney Chesnut (Henderson, Nev.); two rebounds from Ava King (Bakersfield Christian); a rebound and an assist from Maya McNeal (Marysville); and a rebound each from Mallary Gonzalez (Hoover-Fresno) and Vivian Moore (Central East-Fresno).

Sequoias resumes its season at 6 p.m. Dec. 9 at home against Allan Hancock.

The Giants also have road games against No. 9 Folsom Lake at 5 p.m. Dec. 12 and against No. 10 Laney at 3 p.m. Dec. 13, before finishing the nonconference season at the Moorpark Tournament  on Dec. 18-20.

Sequoias begins defense of the Central Valley Conference title by hosting Taft at 7 p.m. Jan. 7.

The Giants have yet to move above a .500 record so far this season. Last season, they won their first 31 games before losing in the semifinals of the state championship tournament.  

"We have to find a way to move forward. We can't keep going two steps forward and one step back," Newton said. "We're 5-5 which is obviously not where we want to be. But we have the majority of the season still ahead of us. We have to take it one game at a time. We've got to keep having good habits at practice. We have to translate that into the games. We have to pay attention to our scouting reports. And we have to keep doing it together. We have to keep grinding through this until we get over the hump and hit our stride."

Laney (8-3) captured its first Gilcrest Invitational championship with a 72-69 overtime win against Butte (10-4). 

Most Valuable Player Ashanti Dias had 28 points, seven rebounds and five assists, while all-tournament selection Sophia Goncalves added 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Eagles.

No. 1 and reigning state champion Mt. San Antonio (9-1) won the consolation bracket by storming to an 86-43 win over L.A. Valley (2-6) behind 16 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals from all-tourney pick Taliyah McFerson.

No. 5 Moorpark (8-2) received 20 points and five rebounds from Maleyni Tolliver during a 75-43 defeat of Chabot (1-9) for seventh place.