3C2A Women's Basketball Quarterfinal #1: Fast Start Leads Laney Over Irvine Valley

Laney plays San Joaquin Delta in semifinals on Saturday, 1 p.m.

VISALIA -- North #3 seed Laney College wanted to establish its presence quickly at the 3C2A State Women's Basketball Championship. And that it did in a resounding way, routing South #2 Irvine Valley, 78-60, in the opening quarterfinal on Thursday afternoon. 

Laney was led by its All-State trio of Sophia Askew-Goncalves, who scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, Ashanti Dias, who tallied 14 points, four assists and three steals, and Erinn Gardere with 13 points, including three 3-pointers. Gianna Ghio added to the parade of top scorers in netting 16 points while distributing five assists. 

The Bay Valley Conference champion Eagles (26-3) extended their win streak to 22 games. The Orange Empire champ Irvine Valley was eliminated at 26-5.

From the get go, Laney meant business with 3-pointers by Ghio and Gardere in the opening two minutes on its way to taking a commanding 22-3, first-quarter lead. Irvine Valley's cold start from the floor lasted the entire 10 minutes. The Lasers missed all 15 shots from the field and were forced by the Eagles' defense into seven turnovers (four steals).

"We really came out ready to play. We felt we had to get out to a fast start, and hitting some of those early shots settled the nerves," said Laney head coach Bryan Gardere, who took over the program this season after serving as an assistant the past few seasons. "We don't want to trade baskets, but what we do well is play at a fast pace and we continued that throughout the game."

Laney's offense was the opposite in making 8-for-13 (61.5 percent) on field goals, led by Askew-Goncalves' 12 points as she made all five of her shots from the post.

Thirty-five seconds into the second quarter, IVC finally made its first shot, a jumper by Kivonni Williams. While the Lasers offense finally started making baskets, Laney didn't miss a beat as Lindsey Wirgler drained two late treys to help her team take a 36-16 lead into halftime. 

In the third quarter when IVC when on its first real run, 6-0, capped by a layup by Neryah Lokeni, Laney responded with a triple by Gardere. The Eagles seemed content in trading baskets and held the 20-point advantage, 61-41, going into the fourth. Laney would go up by as much as 25 points and completed the dominating victory.

"Laney packed it on our two inside players Symantha Barnett and Alexis Price and we couldn't make shots" said IVC and recently selected SoCal Coach of the Year Claire Gocke in her second season in charge of the Lasers.

"After that first quarter, we actually outscored Laney by one (57-56). We were excited to get this far to reach the state tourney, but it was still a kick in the teeth."

Laney made 9-for-22 from beyond the 3-point arc while Irvine Valley made just one trey in 12 attempts. After a rough first quarter, Barnett, an All-State forward, finished with a game-high 19 points and Price, also a member of the All-State squad, added 11, nine boards and three assists. 

Release by Robert Lewis, 3C2A Championship SID