Defense drives Providence girls’ basketball to long-sought tourney title

BURBANK — For the Providence High girls’ basketball team, defense had to be relied upon as its offense went cold late in the championship of the 29th annual Paul Sutton Tip-Off Classic on Saturday evening.

Said defense stepped up in a big way and secured a thrilling 46-45 victory for the Pioneers, who did not score in the final three-plus minutes but hung on for the win over St. Genevieve.

“We tell the team to play great defense and not worry about the offense,” said Pioneers coach Andrew Bencze, whose team has won the first four games to start the season. “We weren’t as prophetic as not scoring in over three minutes and coming out with a win, but we did a good job on their last possession and defended their opportunities well.”

Bencze, who said it’s the program’s first championship in its host tournament since 1999 but needed to confirm, referred to St. Genevieve having possession the final 21.1 seconds of the game.

Freshman standout Melissa Zozulenko’s block on Jocellynn Contreras’ drive gave the Valiants 9.4 seconds to inbound the ball. A Pioneers trap on the baseline forced a timeout, dwindling the clock down to 5.8. Another drive-in attempt saw Providence knock the ball free into Zozulenko’s hands, who secured it until the buzzer.

Zozulenko finished with 25 points and nine rebounds. She was named the tournament most valuable player.

“She came out nervous and it took her a while to settle in,” Bencze said. “She’s so talented and has played so much basketball, and she has so much to learn. Her talent alone can put points on the board, and she stood out.”

Zozulenko echoed her coach’s sentiments.

“I came out nervous because I knew there were a lot of expectations on me,” said Zozulenko, who is averaging 22.3 points. “I didn’t want to turn the ball over and cost the team.”

Providence looked tentative to start, as it made just three of 13 field goals in the first quarter.

It would set the tone of a tightly contested first half in which the biggest lead by either team was four points.

Giselle Camonayan’s three-pointer gave the Pioneers a 27-21 lead at the 5:00 minute mark of the third. Natalie Gammad quickly responded on the other end to cut the lead in half.

The Valiants scored seven of the final nine points in the frame to cut Providence’s lead down to one going into the fourth. Bellarmine-Jefferson transfer Dalia Rincan led the charge as she put in seven of her team-high 21 points in the third.

Rincan hit a three when the Pioneers defense went under a screen early in the fourth. The long-range basket cut Providence’s lead down to 38-36. Rincan tied the game on the Valiants’ next possession.

Providence went back ahead with six unanswered, including a pretty back door pass from Sarah Cox to Sydney Sayoc.

Cox’s offensive rebound and putback increased the lead to 46-41 and would be the team’s final points on the night, leaving it to the defense to clinch the championship.

“Obviously we want to win this tournament, but for us it’s getting better for league and CIF,” Bencze said. “Tonight we took a big step forward against a tough, physical team. We were challenged.

“We designed this tournament to challenge us. …The drought [of not winning it all] is OK, because it’s supposed to be tough.”

Camonayan and Francesca Maravilla were named to the all-tournament team along with Rincan and St. Genevieve’s Polina Kovaleva.