Sierra Canyon girls basketball team holds off Etiwanda to reach Open Division title game

RANCHO CUCAMONGA — It wasn’t going to be that easy to slay the Eagles.

Sierra Canyon’s girls basketball team built a 21-point second quarter lead, then held on for dear life to defeat Etiwanda 66-62 in a CIF Southern Section Open Division semifinal Tuesday night.

The third-seeded Trailblazers (29-2) advance to play top-seeded Ontario Christian in the championship game Saturday at 8 p.m. at Toyota Arena. Second-seeded Etiwanda (30-3) had gone to four straight Open Division championship games, but will still have a chance to go for a fourth straight state championship when the state playoffs begin next week.

“It took everything,” Sierra Canyon coach Alicia Komaki said of the victory. “Our big thing going into the game was having a championship mindset. We knew there were going to be runs, we knew there were going to be calls from the referees we didn’t like, so it’s just like, ‘withstand it and keep withstanding it.’ I was really proud of the girls having that mindset.

Sierra Canyon led 36-15 in the closing seconds of the first half before a buzzer-beating basket made it 36-17 at halftime.In the long climb back, the Eagles didn’t cut the deficit to single digits until Chasity Rice’s basket made it 51-42 with 6:26 remaining.

The Eagles’ best chance was when they got within 62-59 on a Rice 3-pointer with 1:46 left, then about 37 seconds later, Rice missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer.

Etiwanda got even closer when Tess Oldenburg made a 25-foot 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left to make it 64-62, but Jerzy Robinson made two free throws with 1.3 seconds left to seal the win.

“I wish I had prepared them better,” said Etiwanda coach Stan Delus. “I was aware it was going to be a physical game. I knew that some of our lack of experience was going to catch up to us, but I’m proud of the effort they gave. To be down 21… and to make it a ballgame, it showed that we have some toughness.”

The South Carolina-bound Robinson led the Trailblazers with 24 points, making 10 of 13 free throws, and grabbed 12 rebounds. Sophomores Rosie Oladakun and Cherri Hatter added 14 and 11 points, respectively.

“We’re not used to having two sophomores in games at Etiwanda … Our young kids weren’t nervous. I’m really proud of everybody, but especially a shoutout to Rosie and Cherri,” Komaki said.

Etiwanda was led by Arynn Finley, who scored 13 of her 19 points in the second half, making three 3-pointers, despite leaving the game with leg cramps. Rice scored 13 of her 15 points in the second half, and Oldenburg added 11 or her 13 points in the second half and grabbed six rebounds.

“I think we just came out overconfident,” Oldenburg said. “We let them get easy shots and get on a run way too early. … At halftime, we changed our mindset… unfortunately, we couldn’t come out with the win.”

Now, Sierra Canyon gets to play in its first CIF-SS championship game since losing to Etiwanda two years ago.

“We know they’re not going to give up,” Robinson said. “(We’re) playing with confidence, sticking with our game and what we know and not getting rattled by the noise, the refs, outside circumstances.”