Tillis, Valley Women Reach State Semifinals

Flashy, high-scoring Dametra Johnson is usually the player who commands the spotlight when the Valley College women’s basketball team wins a game.

But Thursday night, it was Bernadette Tillis who drove the lane and banked in a layup with three seconds left to lift the Monarchs to a 56-54 victory over Merritt in the quarterfinals of the women’s state basketball tournament at American River College.

Tillis, a sophomore guard from Van Nuys High, scored 15 of her game-high 25 points in the second half.

“Tillis showed real composure at the end but also in all of the second half,” Valley Coach Doug Michelson said. “She played well when we needed her most. I thought the whole team showed a lot of composure.”

Valley (28-3) advances to the semifinals tonight and will play Santa Rosa, a 70-61 winner over Fullerton on Thursday night. Merritt finished at 23-8.

Merritt appeared to have the game in control with 1:11 left when Karrly Smith made a three-point basket from the right corner to give the Oakland school a 54-50 lead.

Valley turned over the inbounds pass but Merritt gave it right back on a traveling violation.

Valley’s Ruth Aguilar made a 10-foot jump shot to cut the lead to 54-52 with 56 seconds left. The Monarchs tied the score, 54-54, with 24 seconds left on two free throws by Johnson, who was fouled while rebounding a missed layup by Merritt’s Vielka Oristil.

Merritt had another chance to take the lead, but Oristil lost the ball with 14 seconds left when she dribbled the ball off of her leg while driving the lane.

Oristil missed three layups in the final two minutes.

Valley inbounded the ball to Tillis who went the length of the court for the winning hoop.

Aguilar scored 13 points and Johnson added 11 for Valley.

The game was marred by a spitting incident in the first half. With 1:55 left a foul was called away from the ball on Elva Davis of Merritt.

Davis then yelled at Traci Atkins and Shegarro Lattin of Valley. As the officials stepped in, Davis spat at Atkins as she walked away.

Davis was ejected and Valley was awarded two technical foul shots and the ball.

Johnson made one of the technical shots to help Valley to a 25-23 halftime lead.