Etiwanda girls basketball team emerges victorious against Ontario Christian in Southern California Regional championship to reach third straight Open Division state final, Archbishop Mitty awaits again

ONTARIO – Defending national champions don’t go down easily.

The No. 1-nationally ranked Ontario Christian girls basketball team found that out the hard way Tuesday night.

Chasity Rice sank a go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:08 left and No. 2 Etiwanda went on to defeat the top-seeded Knights 67-62 in the Southern California Regional final of the Open Division state playoffs at Ontario Christian High.

Etiwanda (27-5) will face Northern California Regional champion Archbishop Mitty (27-3), a 64-60 winner Tuesday against Clovis West (33-1), in the Open Division state final at 6 p.m. Saturday at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.

Post-game interviews

Etiwanda is attempting to become the first program ever, boys or girls, to win three straight Open Division state titles after beating Archbishop Mitty each of the past two years. 

“I’m so proud, because everybody talked about them (Ontario Christian) so much,” Etiwanda coach Stan Delus said. “It was a little disappointing. In my nine years here, we’ve always been solid. My last five years here have been impeccable. These kids don’t deserve the lack of respect they got because a team emerged. We still had four returners from last year’s team. That championship DNA is not gone yet.”

Etiwanda girls basketball team | Photo courtesy of Etiwanda

Ontario Christian (30-2), which had won 16 straight games entering Tuesday, defeated Etiwanda in each of the first two meetings between the teams this season, 74-66 on Nov. 23 in the Harvard-Westlake Invitational final and 65-63 on March 1 in the CIF-Southern Section Open Division final at Toyota Arena in Ontario.

Rice and Arynn Finley hit back-to-back 3-pointers to erase a deficit and give the Eagles a 64-59 lead.

Following a Kaleena Smith 3-pointer for Ontario Christian and a Grace Knox free throw for Etiwanda made it 65-62 with 25.4 seconds left, the Eagles had their defensive stand of the season.

Knowing they needed to prevent the Knights from a potential tying 3-pointer, the Eagles forced Smith into a traveling violation with 2.2 seconds remaining. Finley made two free throws with 1.1 seconds left to clinch the victory.

“It’s hard to beat a team three times regardless of whether you’re playing at home or away,” Ontario Christian coach Aundre Cummings said. “That team (Etiwanda) is experienced and they knew they had to play team defense today and they did it… I’m excited for them because they earned it.”

Aliyahna “Puff” Morris, a McDonald’s All-American and Cal commit, led Etiwanda with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting, with Finley scoring 11 of her 16 points in the second half and Rice contributing 11 points. 

Ontario Christian was led by Smith, who had 22 points and five assists and freshman Tatianna Griffin, who had 16 points and eight rebounds, with Nebraska-bound senior Alanna Neale adding 10 points and eight rebounds.

Etiwanda led for almost the entire game Tuesday. The Eagles had an eight-point advantage in the first quarter, then Shaena Brew’s 3-pointer in the final seconds of the first half gave them their largest lead, 37-28 at halftime.

Cummings played a zone defense against Etiwanda in the first half and the Eagles made Ontario Christian pay by making 8-of-9 3-pointers. The Knights switched to a man-to-man defense in the second half, but Etiwanda still made five of eight from behind the arc.

While Morris had three of her five 3-pointers in the first half, the shooting was a team effort: six different players made a 3-pointer in the first half alone.

“We played as a team. We didn’t go rogue,” Delus said. “We played solid as a unit. We are a tough guard in a zone. If you zone us, it doesn’t matter. We can shoot.” 

The Knights rallied in the second half and took their first lead of the game when Smith made a 3-pointer with 4:27 left for a 57-56 advantage.

Griffin’s basket gave Ontario Christian a 59-58 advantage with 3:53 left.

But it was the Eagles who were up to the task in the final minutes.

“This (victory) took everything we didn’t have the last time we played them,” said Knox, a McDonald’s All-American and LSU signee who had eight points and seven rebounds for Etiwanda.

“It took all the teamwork we could use. … The practice this last week has been focused on coming together, because that was our biggest flaw. We were playing apart, we were doing one-on-ones.”

Cummings, in his first year as head coach of a roster that started only one senior in Neale, was proud of his team’s season. The only two losses suffered by the Knights were against the teams competing Saturday for the Open Division state championship.

“We played 32 games. We lost two games,” Cummings said. “It’s really hard to play in this (state). I couldn’t be more happy. (We were) one play away and you want games like that, for a young team like we have. It builds so much character for the future.”