WOMEN’S JUNIOR COLLEGE BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : Valley and Canyons Bidding to Stay the Course

College of the Canyons has reached the final eight in its first appearance in the women’s state basketball tournament. Valley, meanwhile, is making its fourth consecutive trip to the elite eight.

Yet, despite the disparity of playoff experience, both teams have established courses that they would like to follow.

Valley advanced to the quarterfinals three years ago, the semifinals two years ago and lost in the championship game last year.

“So if there’s any kind of natural progression. . . .” Valley Coach Doug Michelson said.

Playoff neophyte Canyons, of course, has never lost a tournament game, and Coach Jeff Dunlap would like to keep that record intact.

“If we can get past (first-round opponent) Sequoias, I feel confident we can do some things,” Dunlap said. “In the playoffs, we’re playing awfully well.”

The teams were re-seeded for the state finals at College of the Sequoias in Visalia, and Valley was seeded second among southern teams and Canyons fourth. Valley (29-5) will open today against the north’s third-seeded team, De Anza (29-5), at 2 p.m., and Canyons (27-6) will play in the nightcap at 8 against top-seeded Sequoias (32-3) of the north.

If Canyons and Valley win, they will play each other Friday at 8 p.m. The championship game is Saturday night at 7. Canyons and Valley, both up-tempo teams, will first have to overcome two brawny squads.

Valley has won 13 of its past 14 games but has yet to face a squad with the size of De Anza, which goes 6-foot-3, 5-11, 5-10 across the front line, according to Michelson.

Valley’s strength is its numbers. Sandrine Rocher, averaging 15.5 points, is Valley’s only double-figure scorer, but nine players average between four and 10 points. Seven sophomores return from the state runner-up team that lost to American River.

“The sophomores’ savvy and understanding of the big picture just kind of permeates the freshmen and makes us a team,” Michelson said.

Canyons, by contrast, has only two sophomores, but one of them is star forward Tressie Millender, who has scored 56 points in two tournament games.

The aptly named Sequoias, which Dunlap calls “the most physical team in the state,” also has some tall timber and features 6-2 Debra Davis. Sequoias held Canyons to its lowest point total of the season in winning, 65-46, in a late-December tournament.