No. 12 Cypress stuns No. 5 Ventura as three teams post road upsets in basketball regionals
Regional Brackets: NorCal l SoCal
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - It wasn't safe to be a home team in the California Community College Athletic Association Women's Basketball Regionals on Friday night as road teams in three of the eight matchups walked away with berths in next weekend's regional finals. The biggest upset of them came from 12th-seeded Cypress, which not only posted a hard-fought 42-35 win at fifth-seeded Ventura, but broke the hearts of Pirates fans who were hoping to see their team reach for a CCCAA title on its home floor at next month's state championship tournament.
Instead, the Chargers will look for a berth at the event when its faces the winner of No. 4 tonight's showdown between L.A. Trade-Tech and No. 13 Long Beach City. Two ninth-seeded teams - Chabot in the north and Moorpark in the south - also were victorious on the road over eighth-seeded opponents. Chabot beat Feather River, 85-78, while Moorpark turned back L.A. Valley, 55-45. They'll be joined in the regional finals on March 3 by south teams No. 6 El Camino and No. 7 Irvine Valley, and by No.3 College of the Sequoias, No. 4 City College of San Francisco and No. 7 College of the Siskiyous from the north.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA REGIONAL RECAPS
(3) College of the Sequoias 74, (14) San Jose City 47
VISALIA, Calif. - Host College of the Sequoias wasted little time taking control of its regional showdown with visiting San Jose City College on Friday night, breaking open for 10-point lead after the first quarter en route to a 74-47 victory. Shae Sanchez hit four three-pointer and finished with 15 points for the Giants while Samantha Navarro came off the bench to add 10 points, including a pair of treys. San Jose was held to just 27 percent (13 of 48) from the floor and only 23 percent (3 of 13) from beyond the arc.
Regina Stanley had a big game for San Jose, scoring 22 points to go with her 12 rebounds. She hit a trio of three-pointers.
The Giants jumped out to a big 22-12 lead after one quarter but the Jaguars refused to go away, slicing it by a point to just 36-27 at the break. However, College of the Sequoias matched their 22-12 scoring advantage in the first quarter with another in the third to open a comfortable 19-point lead going into the fourth.
*********************
(4) City College of San Francisco 46, Foothill 41
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - The City College of San Francisco women's basketball team advanced to the round three of the California Community College Athletic Association NorCal Regionals after defeating the Foothill College Owls 46-41 on Friday at CCSF.
CCSF guard and Coast-North MVP Caprice Taylor led the way for the Rams on offense by scoring a game-high 24 points. She also put together one of the most clutch performances of the year for the Rams in the fourth quarter. Down 28-25 heading into the fourth quarter, Taylor put the Rams on her back and carried the offensive load by scoring 13 points in the quarter. Her biggest shot came with 59.6 seconds remaining in the fourth when she tied up the game 39-39 with a three pointer. Her three pointer capped a six-point comeback to tie the game.
The Rams defense also came up big against Foothill, causing forcing 26 turnovers including 17 steals. Taylor had a game-high seven steals, and Ma'Ata Makoni and Zakiya Willis tied for second with three steals. Willis also grabbed 10 rebounds.
The Rams will face the winner of the Cabrillo College and Merced College matchup next Saturday at CCSF.
(Courtesy CCSF Athletics)
*********************
Other scores (game info not available)
(7) College of the Siskiyous 74, (10) San Joaquin Delta 69
(9) Chabot 85, (8) Feather River 78
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGIONAL RECAPS
(12) Cypress 42, (5) Ventura 35
VENTURA, Calif. - In the end, the game is about putting a basketball through a hoop. On Friday night, that proved to be a difficult task for the No. 5-seed Pirates' women's basketball team as they fell in the CCCAA SoCal Regional Semifinals 41-35 to No. 12 Cypress. Ventura (23-8) went ice cold from the floor, connecting on just 22 percent of their shots in the game despite a 17-point, eight-rebound effort from Davina Del Castillo. Jasmyne Martin added 11 points as VC had their season come to a close.
Read more
(Courtesy Ventura College Athletics)
***********************
(7) Irvine Valley 70, (10) East Los Angeles 55
IRVINE, Calif. - Irvine Valley's women's basketball team used a strong second half to pull away from and beat East Los Angeles, 70-55, in a second-round game of the CCCAA Southern California Regional Playoffs on Friday night at home.
The Lasers, seeded No. 7, and No. 10 East LA each earned a bye in the opening round.
Irvine Valley (25-4) moves on to the regional finals and will play the winner of No. 15 Riverside and No. 2 Mt. San Antonio. That second-round contest will be played on Saturday night at Mt. SAC.
(Courtesy Allan Hancock College Athletics)
***********************
(6) El Camino 62, (11) West Los Angeles
TORRANCE, Calif. - Kayla Bibb was outstanding for El Camino College as the Warriors scored their first playoff victory since 2015 with a 60-52 win over West Los Angeles Friday night at the ECC North Gym.
Bibb, who was named the South Coast Conference, South Division Player of the Year this week, showed why as she led the Warriors (21-6) in scoring with 26 points and grabbed a career-high 22 rebounds in the victory. Bibb hit eight of the Warriors' 19 field goals and grabbed more than one-third of the team's 56 rebounds on the night. Of her 22 boards, 10 came on the offensive glass as she helped lead the Warriors in that category to a 25-6 advantage on the offensive boards.
(Courtesy Orange Coast Athletics)
*********************
(9) Moorpark 55 (8) L.A. Valley 45
VALLEY GLEN, Calif. - A big fourth quarter sparked Moorpark to its 55-45 road win over the L.A. Valley on Friday night after a close first half led to just a three-point difference at the end of three quarters. But a 17-10 advantage over the final 10 minutes provided the margin the Raiders needed to record their 22nd win of the season. Emily Herring (18 points) and Charlyee Amos (14) gave Moorpark a pair of double-digit scorers while Barbara Rangel (13 rebounds) and Kelsea Illengo (11) were effective off the glass.
Good defense helped spark Moorpark's win as well with the Raiders limiting the Monarchs to just 28 percent (19 for 69) shootings, including just 1 of 9 from beyond the arc. L.A. Valley did a good job not giving the ball away, committing just nine turnovers. Moorpark led 18-14 at the end of the first quarter before being held to just eight points in the second, leading to a 26-26 halftime tie. The Raiders led 38-35 after three periods.
Rebecca Islas had a double-double for L.A. Valley with a 10-point, 11-rebound effort.