If anyone had doubts about the Butte College women’s basketball team heading into the Elite Eight of the California Community College Athletic Association State Championship in Walnut, the Roadrunners quickly swayed skeptics in its opener Thursday afternoon.
Top-ranked Butte parlayed its speed up and down the roster to lead wire to wire in an 84-60 victory over Long Beach City College. In Saturday’s semifinals, Butte (30-1) will play Glendale Community College (29-2), a 66-57 winner over Folsom Lake.
Entering the tournament, Butte had played — and beaten — all the quarterfinalists except Glendale and Long Beach (20-10). But the latter upset the only team to beat Butte this year, second-ranked Mount San Antonio College, to advance to this round in Mt. SAC’s gym.
East Los Angeles College coach Bruce Turner, analyst on the game’s livestream, called Butte “the best team in the state. They’re like a machine.”
All the parts came together. Morgan Trigueiro powered the first half, Jocelyn Medina took control in the second half, and Campbell Vieg kept the Roadrunners on track throughout while Coach Tyler Newton subbed early and often.
Medina finished with a double-double more common for a forward than a guard: 17 points and 10 rebounds. Vieg, another of the team’s seven freshmen, added 13 points and six assists. Trigueiro scored 14, Madalynn Bassett had 11, and Aubrey Prunty rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10.
As a team, the Roadrunners shot 55% — including 52.9% on three-pointers — and held Long Beach to 31.9% shooting.
Butte got off to a fast-breaking start. Back-to-back threes by Medina and Madalynn Bassett — the latter off a steal — gave the Roadrunners a 6-0 lead right out of the gate. After a layup from Long Beach post Chioma Okenwa, Vieg made a shot in the lane to put Butte ahead 8-2.
Then, just three minutes in, Newton subbed out all his starters. The starting slate returned two minutes later, their team ahead 12-5, and Butte went on an 11-2 run.
“We played like that a lot of the year,” Newton said by phone afterward. “We wanted to press a lot of the game, speed the game up and wear the other team out because they’re big. So we had a plan to go every three minutes (subbing) five for five and press — and I have a lot of confidence in my bench and the work they’ve put in this year.
“It worked out for us.”
Twelve Roadrunners played in the first quarter, when they staked a 25-10 lead. They extended the margin to 19 points, 38-19, with 3:43 before halftime — having made 15 of their first 26 shots including 5 of 6 on threes.
Long Beach caught its breath in the final minutes of the half and scored seven unanswered points, capped by Jezelle Moreno’s three with 1:42 left. But Trigueiro sank a three with 1:03 left, and the Roadrunners corralled a rebound at the buzzer to keep their advantage at 41-26 — the first-quarter differential.
Trigueiro, averaging 16.5 points per game this postseason, had 10 in the first half as Butte outshot Long Beach 53% to 29%. The previous evening, Trigueiro was named to the all-state first team, Medina and Vieg made the second team, and Newton received his second Northern California coach of the year award in three years.
“We’re very well-rounded and very deep, so that’s an advantage for us at this time of the year for sure,” Newton said.
The second half brought much of the same. Butte opened with consecutive baskets by Sarah Tait, and an 18-2 run soon after extended the lead to 58-32. Medina’s follow at the buzzer and Vieg’s layup in the opening moments of the fourth quarter gave the Roadrunners’ their biggest cushion, 31 points.
The Vikings held their own the rest of the way but got no closer than 23. Moreno (12 points, nine rebounds) and Okenwa (11 points, 11 rebounds) led Long Beach, which bounced back from an 8-9 start of the season to reach the state quarterfinals.
Butte, in its third straight Elite Eight and second straight semifinal, seeks its first championship under the statewide playoff format. The team notched its first back-to-back spots in the Final Four with its 27th straight win since its lone setback.
“We saw Mt. SAC early,” Newton noted. “We were young; we were trying to figure ourselves out. It was a big game, they were a very experienced ballclub, so we came up short.
“I have full confidence in our group that if we play our game, if we stick to what we do and follow the scouting report, I think we’re pretty tough to beat.”
CCCAA Championship
Quarterfinals
Butte College 84, Long Beach City College 60
Semifinals
Butte vs. Glendale Community College
1 p.m. Saturday
Mount San Antonio College, Walnut
Livestream: baosn.tv/cccaa