High school girls basketball: No. 5 Sierra Canyon upsets No. 2 Ontario Christian 69-62 to grab Southern Section Open Division title

No. 5 Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) got big play from South Carolina commit Jerzy Robinson down the stretch in a 69-62 win Saturday over No. 2 Ontario Christian (Ontario, Calif.) to win the Southern Section Open Division title.

The Trailblazers outscored the Knights 7-0 over the final four minutes as Robinson sank two free throws to give the Trailblazers a 64-62 lead before leading a fast break where she found Delaney White for a dagger 3-pointer and a 67-62 advantage.

Sierra Canyon (29-2) outscored Ontario Christian 18-6 in the final period as Robinson finished with a game-high 32 points. She was 9 of 19 from the field and 11 of 15 from the free throw line.

Top-ranked junior Kaleena Smith had 30 for the Knights in the loss.

After Whites triple, Ontario Christian (31-2) looked to answer and trim the five-point deficit, but a Tatianna Griffin look was off the mark. But the Knights forced a turnover on the next Sierra Canyon possession on a shot clock violation. However, a pair of 3-point looks wouldn't fall and the Knights had two straight one-and-done possessions. 

Robinson added the final margin on a low-post bucket with the clock winding under 20 seconds for their first section title since 2022-23.

The Knights led 36-30 at the half and the Sierra Canyon didn't take a lead until midway through the fourth period.

White and Oregon commit Emilia Krstevski each added 10 for Sierra Canyon as Dani Robinson was the only other Knights player in double figures with 16.

The Trailblazers likely will be the top seed in the Southern California Open Division regional bracket when the pairings are released by the CIF on Sunday. The SoCal field is deep and will include the Trailblazers and Knights as well as No. 4 Etiwanda (Calif.), No. 16 Sage Hill (Newport Beach, Calif.), Centennial (Corona, Calif.) and JSerra Catholic (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.).

They will battle for the right to represent the south at Golden 1 Center on March 14 in the state final. 

In addition to the girls title, the Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) boys also brought home the Southern Section Open Division title with a 59-53 win over Harvard-Westlake (Studio City, Calif.).