ANAHEIM — As good as the Sierra Canyon girls basketball team has been the last two years, there was one thing the Trailblazers hadn’t yet accomplished: winning a CIF Southern Section title.
Top-seeded Sierra Canyon did that, holding off No. 2 Etiwanda 70-57 at Honda Center to capture the CIF-SS Open Division title for the first time in school history.
It is the first CIF-SS title for the program since 2013.
“It’s not so much the significance that it was Etiwanda. I don’t have a rivalry with Etiwanda. The significance for me personally is that I was 0-2 in this game,” Sierra Canyon coach Alicia Komaki said. “Win a CIF Open Division title was on my checklist of things to do. I was really hungry to get that done with this group.”
Etiwanda (29-3) defeated Sierra Canyon (30-0) in last year’s CIF-SS championship game. Sierra Canyon went on to win the CIF State Open DIvision title and has won 34 straight games since.
Sierra Canyon entered the game ranked No. 1 in the country, while Etiwanda was ranked eighth by ESPN. The game snapped a streak of eight straight victories by at least 25 points for SIerra Canyon.
“I thought it was extremely physical, which is what we expected,” Komaki said. “More than anything, I’m proud of the growth we’ve shown in our composure, being able to handle physical games. We’re a very different team than we were a year ago.”
Sierra Canyon star Juju Watkins led all scorers with 24 points, while tying for a team-high 11 rebounds. She made just 4 of 16 field goals, but went 16-for-18 from the line.
“It feels great (to win), especially with this team,” the USC-bound Watkins said. “The history we have, we didn’t get to get it last year. For us to get it and still remain undefeated, it’s nice.”
Izela Arenas added 19 points, while Mackenly Randolph had 17 points and 11 rebounds for Sierra Canyon.
Sierra Canyon never trailed after the first quarter, opened up a 17-point lead in the third quarter, but…
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