A maxim in many sports, including women’s basketball, is defense wins championships. Butte College came up against the leading defensive team in the state Saturday afternoon, and that’s the squad that will play for the title.
Glendale Community College jumped out early, held the Roadrunners to 24% shooting and upset the state’s top-ranked team 66-42 in the semifinals of the California Community College Athletic Association Championship at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut.
Butte (30-2) lost for the first time in 28 games, while seventh-ranked GCC (30-2) extended its win streak to 24.
“When you lose in the Final Four, it sucks,” Head Coach Tyler Newton said by phone as Moorpark led defending champion Orange Coast in the second semi. “We’re not at the nearest bridge jumping off, but everyone is pretty upset.”
Vying for a second straight trip to the final in its third straight Elite Eight, Butte (30-2) missed 21 of its first 25 shots and never got untracked. Seventh-ranked Glendale (30-2), by contrast, made 15 of its first 28 and wound up shooting 52%.
The Roadrunners attempted 71 shots — including 35 from three-point range, where it made just four. The Vagueros shot 48 times and made 9 of 23 threes.
GCC came in as the state leader in points allowed, 45 a game, and fifth in shooting percentage allowed, 31%. It did even better against Butte, which entered as the state’s third-best team in shooting (68%), threes (43.7%) and scoring (81 points a game).
“We’re a pretty good defensive ballclub as well, top five in the state,” Newton said. “We held them to their average. I don’t think we did a good job adjusting to their physicality and picking up the physicality on our end.”
Sophomore guard Patil Yaacoubian led GCC with 19 points, going 5 for 11 on threes and 4 for 4 on free throws. Backcourt-mate Malia Ulery, the top-scoring Vaquero on the season, added 14 points and seven rebounds, and forward Paola Gorgeiz chipped in 10 points and seven boards.
Guards Campbell Vieg and Sarah Tait scored nine each for Butte, whose leading scorer, all-state guard Morgan Trigueiro, went 1 for 11 for two points. Vieg, Tait and guard Jocelyn Medina — who had 17 points and 10 rebounds the previous round, but scored seven against Glendale — combined to shoot 10 of 37.
“The group played very hard, we competed, we were trying everything to get it going,” Newton said. “They hit some timely shots, we missed some uncharacteristic shots — layups, things we’ve been finishing all year — and when you have your worst shooting performance of the season in the Final Four, these kinds of things happen.”
Inverse deja vu
In a reverse of Butte’s quarterfinal win over Long Beach City College, a team with a larger height differential but not as fast as GCC, the Roadrunners fell behind quickly and struggled to turn the tide.
The Vaqueros raced out to a 7-0 lead, benefitting from missed shots and a turnover from Butte, and led 13-3 after five minutes. Butte got as close as four, 15-11, off a steal and fastbreak layup by Vieg — a rare glimmer of the Roadrunners’ typical style of play. But Butte failed to score the rest of the quarter and finished the period trailing 19-11.
“We came out and really couldn’t get going offensively,” Newton said. “I thought that they were very physical, it was tough for us to get to the rim, and we weren’t getting into any kind of groove.
“We just couldn’t get it going. It was weird.”
The drought extended into the first six minutes of the second quarter, when GGC built its largest lead of the half at 30-13. The Roadrunners perked up, making six of their last 10 shots of the period, but the Vaqueros matched Butte to take a 38-23 edge into intermission.
In the first half, GCC outshot Butte 53.6% to 28.6% — 45.5% to 21% from three — and held Trigueiro scoreless on 0-for-6 shooting. Tait led the team with eight points and six rebounds; Vieg added six and, like Tait, shot 3 for 9, though Vieg drove for layups and Tait let fly from behind the arc.
“I thought we were OK,” Newton said. “We were regrouping in the locker room; no one was panicking. We just needed to make some adjustments and get back after it.”
Yet, the second half brought more of the same. Butte got as close as 13 twice, the latter 43-30 with 3:11 left in the third. A 7-0 run in the next 90 seconds put GCC up by 20, and the teams essentially traded misses or baskets the rest of the way.
The Roadrunners’ final point came on a free throw by Vieg with 1:52 left. A basket and two free throws set the final margin. GCC faces Butte nemesis Orange Coast (29-3), which rallied in the final minute, at 1 p.m. Sunday for the championship.
“I told the girls, ‘We played bad today, but we’re not a bad basketball team — we’re a good basketball team that just played bad’,” Newton said. “At this stage, if you don’t play your best basketball, you’re probably going home.”
Despite the disappointment, Newton reflected with pride on the season overall — two seasons, actually, in which this sophomore class recorded more victories than any other in school history. The seven freshmen who joined the six sophomores leave the team in good position for another run.
“Obviously the season was special: 30 wins, three all-state selections and nine all-conference players for the first time, four straight conference titles, three straight Elite Eights. This group made a lot of history,” Newton said. “We held our heads high.”
CCCAA Championship
Semifinals
Glendale Community College 66, Butte College 42
Orange Coast College 62, Moorpark College 55
