Girls’ basketball: Cinderella run ends for Cuyama Valley
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For three weeks, the glass slipper fit beautifully for Cuyama Valley.
On Monday night, it finally proved to be a bit snug.
The Bears lost to Sierra Canyon, 75-24, in a Southern California regional Division V first-round game, but the defeat did nothing to diminish a Cinderella run in which Cuyama Valley captured its school’s first Southern Section title despite an amazing set of constraints.
Because of budget cuts within the Cuyama Joint Unified School District, the tiny school on Highway 166 in northern Santa Barbara County did not play any nonleague games. The Bears started their season in January and played only nine regular-season games, winning five and finishing tied for second in the Coast Valley League.
‘We were happy just to go to the playoffs,’ first-year Coach Tammy Martinez said.
Expectations quickly changed once Cuyama Valley upset second-seeded Avalon in the first round of the Division VI-A playoffs.
‘After we played that first game,’ Martinez said, ‘the girls started thinking, Hey, we can do this.’
Led by junior forward Diana Velarde, senior point guard Kendra Romero, junior guard Ashley Haslam and senior shooting guard Vicki Cruz, the Bears rattled off two more upset victories to reach the title game against top-seeded Packinghouse Christian.
Cuyama Valley held Packinghouse to its lowest offensive output of the season during a 38-33 victory.
‘When we got to the final, we walked in with an attitude of, ‘We’re not going to leave without winning,’ ‘ Martinez said. ‘We were not going to go back to Cuyama without the little patch and shirts that we won.’
The school held a celebratory assembly in the Bears’ honor and the district superintendent has promised the team ‘two days of fun,’ Martinez said. A local restaurant is also throwing the girls a pizza party.
‘They’re really excited,’ Martinez said. ‘No one expected this.’
--Ben Bolch