No. 3
Etiwanda bucked recent history Tuesday and won the CIF Southern California Regional final, beating No. 4
Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) 54-51.
Grace Knox led the Eagles with 17 while
Aliyahna Morris added 12.
Jerzy Robinson paced the Trailblazers with 25 and
Emilia Krstevski added 14.
It was the third straight season the two squads had battled for the right to play for the CIF Open Division title in Sacramento. In each of the previous two years, the team who hosted the regional final — on basis of winning the Southern Section Open Division title — had lost.
Etiwanda, the reigning state champion, broke the string of section title winners falling in the state playoffs and earned a chance to go back-to-back. Sierra Canyon won consecutive Open Division titles in 2019 and 2022 with the pandemic separating the titles for the only time the feat has been done in the nine years of the elite division.
On Tuesday, Sierra Canyon raced to a 7-0 lead but a pair of 10-0 runs by Etiwanda helped the hosts take a 29-24 edge into intermission.
Junior forward Grace Knox scored 17 points Tuesday night to help Etiwanda reach California's Open Division state championship game, where the Eagles will get a crack at national No. 1 Archbishop Mitty (File photo: Louis Lopez)
Krstevski helped trim the Sierra Canyon deficit to 40-38 at the end of the third quarter with her bucket on the Trailblazers' last possession of the period.
Robinson tied the game at 40 at the start of the fourth but Etiwanda never surrendered the lead as USC commit
Kennedy Smith scored her first points of the game on a baseline drive 90 seconds into the fourth.
Robinson again tied the game with a bucket but Knox, who missed most of the second quarter in foul trouble, drilled a 3-pointer for the 45-42 lead with 4:50 left. The Eagles built the lead to 49-42 on two Smith free throws and another bucket by Knox.
Sierra Canyon still wouldn't go away. Robinson hit in the lane before sinking a pair of freebies, Krstevski cleaned up a
Mackenly Randolph miss and the Trailblazers trailed 49-48 with less than a minute to play.
The defending state champions hit 4 of 5 free throws down the stretch to hang on and earn their trip to Golden One Center.
No. 1 Archbishop Mitty (San Jose, Calif.) 71, Clovis West (Fresno, Calif.) 34
The Monarchs used a 16-0 blitz to start their Northern California Regional final and never looked back.
McKenna Woliczko led Mitty with 20 points and eight rebounds while UConn commit
Morgan Cheli added 19 in her second game back from a month-long injury. The fourth quarter was played with a running clock.
The Monarchs will play in their third straight CIF Open Division title game, looking for their first title. In 2023, Mitty fell 69-67 to Etiwanda on a putback at the buzzer and 85-61 to a Juju Watkins-led Sierra Canyon team in 2022.
