3C2A Women's Basketball Quarterfinal #4: North 4 Seed Fresno Stuns Top-Rated Mt. SAC

Fresno plays MiraCosta in semifinals on Saturday, 3 p.m.

VISALIA -- There will be no quadruple repeat for Mt. San Antonio College.

The state's #1 ranked team for the entire 2025-26 season was took down by North #4 Fresno City, 77-65, in the fourth quarterfinal of the 3C2A State Women's Basketball Championship on Thursday night. The Rams (24-7) stopped Mt. SAC's 22-game win streak and handed the Mounties (29-2) just their second loss all season.

The Mounties were trying for their fourth back-to-back championship since 2007, but were hurt in the worst way in playing without South Player of the Year Taliyah McFerson who was injured in the regional finals combined with early foul trouble for the team's other All-State player Elizabeth Udeze. 

While Mt. SAC dealt with adjustments in its rotation, Fresno got hot from the outside, making 7-for-9 long-range bombs in the second quarter to take a 43-34 halftime lead. Sara Shein picked the right night to hit an array of running jumpers and off-balanced shots to score a game-high 24 points. All-State Alyssa Kem added 17 and Kayla Silva 10 off the bench.

Five Rams reserves combined for 32 points, including nine by Jaelyn Bordeau and eight from Destiny Edwards. Shein, Silva, Edwards and Bordeau netted a pair of threes each. 

"Our depth has been our strength all season, which allows us to run 10 deep," said Fresno head coach Alex Fletcher. "We like to run a free flow offense. Maybe our shot selection wasn't as clean as it could be, but we shoot with a lot of confidence. Mt. SAC not having its State Player of the Year changed everything for us."

All-State Dylan Tse led the Mounties with 15 points (three treys) and Udeze was limited to 12 points. Janessa Rodriguez scored eight and Tierra Taylor added nine off the bench.

In the first quarter, Mt. SAC was challenged early by Fresno on back-to-back layups by Kem that tied it. The Mounties broke the deadlock and took a 17-15 lead on two free throws by Taylor.

Fresno then erupted in the second quarter as three different Rams sank threes and Silva capped a wild 13-0 run for a 33-20 lead with six minutes left before halftime. After Edwards made FCC's seventh triple of the period, Mt. SAC got a break with a 4-point play by Tse, who was fouled making a trey and hit the free throw. FCC led, 43-34, at the half.

In the third period, Fresno held tight after Mt. SAC sliced the lead to four, 45-41, on an Udeze layup. A basket-and-one by Kem and 3-point launches by Bourdeau and Kem stretched it back to 56-43. FCC led 60-50 by the end of the quarter.

In the fourth, two running jumpers by Shein upped it to 70-56 with five minutes left and the Rams were able to finish off the upset.

"Fresno just hit its shots and that was the difference," said Mt. SAC head coach Brian Crichlow. "I'm not going to make excuses because we just didn't play our type of Mt. SAC basketball. We did play with heart and I thought we did the best we could. We had a group that was special these last two years."

In a warm moment, Crichlow brought in a limping McFerson in the final four seconds to allow her to get to play in the state tourney. McFerson was a member of last year's All-3C2A State Tournament Team. 

Release by Robert Lewis, 3C2A Championship SID