Taiyande Huskey had 21 pts to lead Fullerton, which nursed a short lead the entire second half, finally holding off Santa Rosa, 66-58, to reach the championship game of the California Community College state tourney.
Fullerton led, 26-24, after an evenly-played first half that saw neither team lead by more than four points. Santa Rosa tied the game early in the second half at 28, but Fulerton took the game's first 5-point lead at 38-33 just less than six minutes into the second half.
From there, Fullerton gradually expanded the lead. Huskey scored on a pass from Ashley James after not one but two quick blocked shots by Ashleigh Adams began a fast break, making it 48-42 with 10:19 left. Then exactly a minute later Huskey converted a 3-point play to push the lead to nine points at 51-42 with 9:19 remaining.
Santa Rosa briefly got within four points at 55-51, but it looked as if that rally-would end when Ctr Jeanette DeWitt fouled out with 3:58 left. On the resulting free throws, Huskey made the first; she missed the second but Destainee Hollis-Rudison scored on the putback to make it 58-51.
But Santa Rosa wasn't finished yet. A driving lay-up by Amy Kynoch made it a four-point game at 58-54 with just over two minutes left, and then Mia Greco split two free throws with 1:33 left to make it a three-point game at 58-55.
That would be as close as Santa Rosa would get. Danielle Ekno made one of two free throws with 1:20 left to again make it a two-possession game at 59-55, and again made one of two free throws with 44.8 seconds left to make it 60-55. Adams scored after a pass from Hollis-Rudison to make it a three-possession game at 62-55 to clinch the win and send Fullerton to the championship.
Huskey's 21 pts led all scorers, and she was the only Fullerton player to score in double figures. Hollis-Rudison came off the bench for 8 pts, a team-high 9 rebs, 2 asts and 3 steals. James had 8 pts, 5 rebs and 4 asts, while Adams had 8 pts and 7 rebs. Ekno added 7 pts and 6 rebs.
For Santa Rosa, Charlene Popoff led the way with 17 pts and a game-high 12 rebs. Kynoch had 10 pts and a game-high 6 asts, and Amanda Briare had 9 pts. Greco came off the bench for 14 pts.
The win earns Fullerton a berth in the state championship game against Ventura, which edged San Francisco, 60-56, in the other semifinal. See JUCO Hoop Fan (http://www.venturapromulgate.webs.com) for the game summary of that one. box score
Saturday, March 13, 2010 - 1 pm
at Cal Lutheran, Thousand Oaks
State Semifinal #1 - Women
Santa Rosa 58:
22-Amanda Briara, SG - 3/13 fg, 5 reb, 2 stl, 5 pf, 9 pts
24-Amy Kynoch, PG - 3/9 fg, 4/6 ft, 1 reb, 6 ast, 2 pf, 10 pts
30-Natalie Wisdom, SF - 1/4 fg, 1 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 4 pf, 3 pts
33-Jeanette DeWitt, C - 2/12 fg, 9 reb, 1 ast, 5 blk, 3 stl, 5 pf, 4 pts
34-Charlene Popoff, PF - 5/15 fg, 7/10 ft, 12 reb, 2 blk, 4 stl, 1 pf, 17 pts
31-Alyson Henington, F - 0/5 fg, 1/2 ft, 4 reb, 1 pf, 1 pt
32-Rachael Zarat, F - 0/1 fg, 3 reb, 1 pf, 0 pts
23-Mia Greco, G - 3/8 fg, 7/8 ft, 4 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 3 pf, 14 pts
25-Luz Tejed, F - 0 pts
team rebounds: 5
Totals: 17/67 fg (.254), 19/26 ft (.731), 44 reb, 10 ast, 8 blk, 11 stl, 22 pf, 58 pts
3-pt fg (5): Briare 3, Wisdom, Greco
Fouled Out: DeWitt 3:38 left, Briare 8.3 secs left
Turnovers (22): Kynock 6, Briare 4, Greco 4, Henington 3, DeWitt 2, Wisdom, Popoff, team
Fullerton 66:
3-Danielle Ekno, PF - 2/10 fg, 2/5 ft, 6 reb, 1 blk, 1 pf, 7 pts
4-Sarah Jackson, SF - 1/2 fg, 0/1 ft, 5 reb, 3 stl, 5 pf, 2 pts
14-Nicole Martin, C - 0/2 fg, 3 reb, 1 stl, 0 pts
20-Ashley James, PG - 4/7 fg, 5 reb, 4 ast, 1 pf, 8 pts
30-Taiyande Huskey, SG - 6/14 fg, 8/9 ft, 5 reb, 2 stl, 3 pf, 21 pts
5-Jhakia McDonald, F - 0/6 fg, 7/8 ft, 2 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 2 pf, 7 pts
22-Ashleigh Adams, F - 3/10 fg, 2/2 ft, 7 reb, 1 ast, 3 blk, 1 stl, 1 pf, 8 pts
44-Ebony McClain, C - 1/2 ft, 4 reb, 1 ast, 2 pf, 1 pt
13-Rachel Hatch, G - 2/7 fg, 3 reb, 1 pf, 4 pts
11-Destainee Hollis-Rudison, C - 3/4 fg, 2/4 ft, 9 reb, 2 ast, 3 stl, 2 pf, 8 pts
team rebounds: 8
Totals: 21/62 fg (.339), 22/31 ft (.710), 57 reb, 10 ast, 5 blk, 10 stl, 18 pf, 66 pts
3-pt fg (2): Ekno, Huskey
Fouled Out: Jackson 1:33 left
Turnovers (28): Jackson 4, Huskey 4, Hollis-Rudison 4, Ekno 3, James 3, McDonald 3, Adams 3, Martin, McClain, Hatch, team
Halftime Score: Fullerton 26, Santa Rosa 24
Updated Records: Fullerton 32-1, Santa Rosa 26-7
Fullerton led the entire second half, but Santa Rosa trailed by just 3 with 1:33 left
