High school girls basketball: No. 2 Sierra Canyon downs No. 6 La Jolla Country Day 64-55 in Chosen 1's showcase

In what could be a preview of the CIF Open Division Southern California finals, No. 2 Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) handled No. 6 La Jolla Country Day (La Jolla, Calif.) 64-55 on Saturday at The Chosen 1’s showcase at the Galen Center on the USC campus.

And while the stars produced for both sides, it was a freshman for Sierra Canyon that made un-freshman-like plays for the Trailblazers down the stretch. Emilia Krstevski was charged with defending Cunningham most of the night and did an admirable job on the 6-foot-4 Arizona commit. But when La Jolla Country Day used Williams to smother Watkins on defense, Krstevski showed off some offensive touch, scoring six of her 10 points in the fourth period.
After Watkins hit two free throws to start the fourth quarter, Cunningham answered in the paint to cut the Sierra Canyon lead to 52-44. Krstevski got the ball at the elbow on the next Trailblazers possession and calmly canned the jumper. She then matched another Cunningham low-post bucket with a score in the paint.

After Sumayah Sugapong's two free throws and a jumper from Williams that cut the lead to 56-50 with three minutes left, Krstevski got the ball on the right block and swished a nifty baby hook for an eight-point edge.

The Torreys kept fighting, however, as Naomi Panganiban sandwiched a 3-pointer and a field goal around a Waktins 15 footer with 90 seconds left. Panganiban finished with 8.

Watkins missed the front end of a one-and-one with under a minute and Sierra Canyon clinging to a five-point advantage. But a miss from freshman Safiyha Sugapong led to Watkins’ 18th rebound and the Torreys were forced to foul. Watkins made both ends of the one-and-one before a final shot by LJCD rimmed out and Watkins was able to go coast-to-coast for a layup at the buzzer.

MacKenly Randolph scored 11 for Sierra Canyon and Izela Arenas added eight.