COS women's basketball opens Gilcrest with 82-49 defeat of L.A. Valley; advance to face Butte in semifinals

By Nick Giannandrea

COS ATHLETICS

College of the Sequoias women's basketball team looked much more like the squad coach Tyler Newton believes he has during opening night of the 48th annual Tom Gilcrest Invitational.

The Giants stormed out to a double-digit lead in the first quarter and never looked back, getting scoring contributions from all 12 players who suited up while rolling to an 82-49 win over Los Angeles Valley on Dec. 4 at Porter Field House.

Sequoias advances to face Butte in the semifinals of its eight-team state showcase tournament that has gathered six squads ranked among the preseason Top 25 by the California Community College Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Dec. 5.

"We took a step forward," Newton said. "We still have a lot of things to clean up, but I told them that for me, the physicality, the defensive effort, we're definitely moving in the right direction."

The Giants (4-4) were coming off a stunning 75-74 home loss to Sacramento City on Dec. 1 that led Newton to say "we're a bad basketball team right now" in the game's aftermath. The unranked Panthers stormed the court in celebration as time expired after knocking off a Sequoias team that was ranked No. 2 in the preseason poll after going 31-1 and reaching the state semifinals last season.

"We've been one of the best programs around, and when you show up thinking you're one of the best teams, it's a different mindset," Newton said. "But this team hasn't accomplished anything yet. And so we kind of had to go to that underdog, chip-on-our-shoulder, we've-got-a-lot-to-prove kind of mindset, and I think that helped tonight."

Sequoias jumped out to a 15-2 lead following a 3-pointer by Claire Olia (Walnut) off an assist by Izabel Mendez (Caruthers High) with 1 minute and 2 seconds to play in the first quarter.

L.A. Valley (1-5) would get no closer than eight points the rest of the way.

The Giants' lead reached 20 points (40-30) on a 3-pointer by Nyla Anderson (Austin, Texas) off an assist from Olia with 1:07 remaining in the second quarter, and swelled as large as 39 points (69-30) with 9:54 when Sydney Chesnut (Henderson, Nev.) converted an Anderson feed for 3-points.

Sequoias made a season-best 25 assists, led by seven from Anderson, five from Kalysa Phanhsavang (Stockton) and four from Mendez. The Giants only had 19 assists against Sacramento.

"We were moving the ball much, much better," Newton said. "If you move the ball and share the ball, good things happen."

Anderson led Sequoias with 16 points along with three steals and two rebounds. She sank 3 of 4 attempts from 3-point range to lead the team's 41.4 percent (12 of 29) effort beyond the arc.

The Giants also received double-digit scoring from Chesnut with 13, and Olia and Gabby Brooks (Henderson, Nev.) and with 10 apiece.

Chesnut added two rebounds, two steals and an assist; Olia had two rebounds and two assists; and Brooks had three rebounds and an assist.

Sequoias starting five also saw Demi Boykin (Marysville) deliver eight points, five steals, three rebounds, two assists and a block; Phanhsavang with four points, four rebounds and three steals; and Olivia Gill (Woodland) with four points, six rebounds, an assist and a steal.

The Giants' bench produced seven points, three rebounds, an assist and a steal from Vivian Moore (Central East-Fresno); four points and a rebound from Mallary Gonzalez (Hoover-Fresno); two points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals from Mendez; two points, two rebounds and an assist from Maya McNeal (Marysville); and two points, two rebounds, two steals and an assist from Ava King (Bakersfield Christian).

"If we would have played like this (Dec. 1 against Sacramento), we would have won easily," Newton said. "That's a woulda, coulda, shoulda. But again, we had to learn. The standard that we set tonight, how hard we played, how physical we were, that's the ground floor now. And we're only going to be at that or better moving forward. We're not going to go backwards."

Up next for the Giants is a Butte team that Newton turned into a state power during six seasons as Roadrunners coach from 2017-18 through 2023-24 before coming to Sequoias. Butte reached at least the state semifinals in Newton's final three seasons.

The No. 21 Roadrunners (9-3) reached the semifinals with a 96-50 blasting of unranked Chabot (1-7) that featured 19 points and eight rebounds from Maddux Wilson, and 16 points and eight rebounds from Mia Reyes.

Butte has won five straight.

"They are playing really well and have a lot of good kids," Newton said. "It's going to be a really good challenge for us."

The other semifinal, set for 5 p.m., features No. 4 San Joaquin Delta against No. 10 Laney.

Delta (6-0) upset top-ranked and defending state champion Mt. San Antonio 73-72 in the first game of the tournament.

Mt. SAC (7-1) led by as many as 18 points in the first half, but the Mustangs got back into the game by outscoring the Mounties 23-11 in the third quarter.

Aaliyah Youngblood's free throw with 26 seconds left gave Delta the lead for good. She finished with a game-leading 21 points.

Laney (6-3) received 16 points and 11 rebounds from Kenya Craven in a 65-58 win over No. 5 Moorpark (7-1).

In the consolation bracket, Mt. SAC plays Moorpark at 1 p.m., and Chabot faces L.A. Valley at 3 p.m.

The tournament concludes Dec. 6 with the seventh-place game at 10 a.m., the consolation championship at noon, the third-place game at 2 p.m. and the championship at 4 p.m.