No. 6 Etiwanda three-peats in California Open Division with 75-59 win over No. 5 Archbishop Mitty

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — It's a three-peat. For the third straight year, No. 6 Etiwanda beat No. 5 Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) in the California Open Division state championship game with a 75-59 victory Saturday at the Golden 1 Center.

After beating Mitty 69-67 in 2023 and 60-48 last year, the Eagles used an efficient shooting night to pull away from the Monarchs in a decisive third quarter. Etiwanda shot 73 percent coming out of the locker room, outscoring Mitty 24-13 in the quarter to turn a 37-31 edge into a 66-44 advantage.

All five starters scored in double figures for Etiwanda (28-5). Junior Arynn Finley led the way with 21 points, including 17 in the first half. Aliyahna Morris and Grace Knox, both McDonald's All Americans, went for 12 and 10, respectively, while Shaena Brew and Chasity Rice each dropped 13. Mitty had four players in double digits, led by 17 from Ze'Ni Patterson. Abigail James had 11 and Emma Cook and freshman Maliya Hunter each had 10.

"Arynn Finley was fantastic for them today," Mitty head coach Sue Phillips said. "She, I thought, carried them in a lot of respects in the first half. But they are a team and I’m not surprised that they were here today."

Etiwanda's path to the three-peat wasn't paved with gold. The Eagles were ranked No. 1 nationally in the preseason but found themselves 4-4 in mid-December and out of the rankings for a stretch.

"Since August we had a plan of working on getting better," Etiwanda head coach Stan Delus said. "Through our early struggles they put in the effort physically, mentally and spiritually to be one of the best teams in California."

While the historical context of what his squad had accomplished hadn't quite sunk in, Delus was aware of the postseason path for the Eagles.

"You have to go through at least four of the top national teams to get here," Delus said. "I think that’s what has made it so special. You’re getting through four or five of the best teams in the country and all within an 80 mile radius just to get to this game."

In the postseason, Etiwanda beat No. 10 Mater Dei twice while splitting with No. 1 Ontario Christian — losing the Southern Section final but exacting revenge in the regional final. And then they had to beat an Archbishop Mitty team that has qualified for five straight Open finals.

"I'm proud of this team, especially starting off the season 4-4, which is probably the worst record I’ve experienced since I’ve been here," Morris said. "Just going through that and not putting our heads down and standing 10 toes on the ground. I knew what this team was capable of."

While a formidable opponent for the Eagles on Saturday, Mitty (27-4) can always look back to early January and ask "What could have been?" after losing top-ranked junior McKenna Woliczko to a season-ending ACL injury.

"I think after McKenna’s injury, we talked openly about how our goals didn’t change just the pathway to that end was going to be different," Phillips said. "It's difficult to articulate how painful it is to yet again come up short in this situation, but nevertheless it wasn’t our night. I'm a competitor and annoyed that we lost ... but that doesn’t diminish the season that this group of young ladies have had."

The Monarchs trailed by as much as 12 in the second quarter, 30-18 on a Finley 3-pointer. But Phillips' group went on an 11-2 run. Patterson was a spark plug with a 3-pointer, a bucket on the ensuing possession after an Etiwanda travel and a second triple.

When Emma Cook hit two free throws, the Monarchs were down three, 32-29 with 2:13 left in the half.

But Finley struck again with a 3-pointer at the shot clock buzzer and Morris found a streaking Rice for a transition bucket as the Eagles closed the half on their own 5-0 run.

Etiwanda was efficient in scoring its 37 first half points, hitting 55 percent from the field, with most points coming in transition or from beyond the arc as Finley led the way with 17 in the first half.

Meanwhile, Mitty was 10 of 34 from the field (29.4 percent) and only 9 of 17 from the free throw line. The Monarchs, however, controlled the boards outrebounding the Eagles 25-15 in the first 16 minutes.

In the decisive third quarter, all five starters scored with Finley hitting her second shot-clock beater, Knox nailing an elbow jumper, Morris feeding Rice on a fast-break done and Morris then swiping and inbounds pass for an easy bunny.