COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Golden West Gains State Final With Victory Over Sequoias

Golden West held College of the Sequoias scoreless in the last 5 1/2 minutes and won, 53-48, Friday night in a Community College Women’s Basketball State Tournament semifinal game at Los Angeles Valley College in Van Nuys.

Golden West (34-1) plays L.A. Valley at 7 tonight for the state championship. L.A. Valley defeated Bakersfield, 89-80, in the other semifinal game Friday.

Trailing, 46-45, with 8 minutes 19 seconds to play, Golden West allowed only two points thereafter to keep alive its bid for a second consecutive state championship.

“It just seems every close game, if we’re in striking distance, they really believe they can do it,” Golden West Coach Dave Stricklin said.

Golden West and Sequoias (30-6), state finalists last season and traditionally two of the strongest programs in California, split their first two games of the season, and Golden West began pointing toward a third meeting about a month ago.

After adding several plays specifically for Sequoias, Golden West was handicapped for much of the first half when starters Tracy Wolfe and Jennifer Harney sat out with two fouls apiece.

Golden West, which leads the state in scoring (88.2-point average), went more than 7 1/2 minutes in the first half without a point. Bits Sirchia ended the scoreless stretch with a 16-foot jump shot at the 7:44 mark, but Sequoias pulled ahead by as many as 10 and led, 27-21, at halftime.

Harney, Golden West’s second-leading scorer, had only one point at halftime but scored twobaskets early in the second half and finished with 10 points.

Dawn Haag scored Golden West’s final basket of the game with 5:04 remaining, and Sirchia made both ends of a one-and-one with five seconds.

In South Coast Conference men’s volleyball:

Orange Coast 3, Long Beach 2--Host Orange Coast (7-0, 4-0 in conference) took over first place with the 15-4, 13-15, 9-15, 16-14, 15-9 victory.

Golden West 3, Palomar 1--Sean Gardner had 20 kills for host Golden West in the 15-9, 8-15, 15-11, 15-12.