ANAHEIM — The Canyon girls basketball entered the CIF-SS Division 4 semifinals needing a win at home Saturday night to advance to their second title game in three years.
But it was La Cañada that played tenacious defense and pulled away in the second half to beat the Comanches 47-33 at Canyon High.
The Spartans will face El Dorado in the Division 4 final.
Second-year coach Shawn Jones reflected on La Cañada reaching the championship game.
“It feels great. When I first came here, I wanted to set a standard and change a mindset,” Jones said. “And last year we did good too. But this year we came back and we just positioned ourselves to prepare ourselves for this moment, which is CIF.
“Like I told the girls when I first came here, you know, we’re gonna work, and we’re gonna be a deep, defensive-minded team and it showed tonight.”
La Cañada (19-12) was led by sophomore Serena Morillo, who scored a team-high 14 points with 12 of those points coming in the pivotal second half.
“Serena is my Charles Barkley,” Jones said. “Like, she’s physical, she’s tough, but she also can handle the ball.”
Jones said that Morillo struggled at times Saturday but she fought her way through it.
“I tried to calm her down and said, ‘hey, focus, focus,’ and in the second half, I kind of let her go,” Jones said, “because then she comes within herself and she’s like, I’m gonna lead the team. I gonna make sure we get this done.”
The Comanches (15-17) trailed by only three points at halftime and took a brief lead in the third quarter 23-22.
Kyara Vargas scored in transition after a blocked shot and outlet pass by Aubri Salem then Zulymar Velazquez added a layup.
Canyon coach Sara Brown said she felt like the tide would turn for her team in the second half, but that moment never came to fruition.
“We just weren’t scoring the ball like we normally have been,” Brown said. “I do think we rushed a little bit more than we normally do. I already told the team that this was a very physical team, which is good for us, and we’ve seen physicality. We’ve dealt with physicality before, but I think that we just were, we were rushed tonight.”
The Spartans went on a 10-0 run to end the third quarter and continued that momentum into the fourth quarter.
“We pride ourselves on mismatches,” Jones said. “My practices are 7 on 5. My practices aren’t normal. It’s always a disadvantage, and offense has seven, we have five. And we have to trap and we have to rotate. So the mindset that I want them to notice that you’re never out of a play if you give 100% every possession.”
Vargas finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds and Sara Kong added 10 points while Salem grabbed 10 rebounds.
The Comanches qualified for the CIF State playoffs by reaching the semifinals.
Brown is eager to see how her team responds in their next game.
“This is one of the most resilient teams that I’ve ever coached,” she said, “but if you would have asked me at the beginning of a season, I probably wouldn’t have believed you (about going to the state playoffs). That’s the greatest part about it, but we still have a shot at state, which I’m excited about, and I think they are too.”
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HS girls basketball, Div. 4 semifinals, La Cañada at Canyon, 7 pm
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