Lady Warrior Irey Sandholdt puts a shot up against West Bakersfield in a game played in Tehachapi.
The Lady Warriors won the SYL season finale to advance to the valley playoffs.
The Lady Warriors play Tulare Western Wednesday night in Tulare. (Photo by The Tehachapi News.)
Posted by John Nelson, The Tehachapi News, on February 19, 2017 Warriors Girls Clinch CIF Berth With Wild West Win
It wasn't pretty, but it might have been their biggest victory of the season.
The Warriors girls defeated West 57-43 Wednesday night, Feb. 15, at home and earned a spot in the CIF-CS Division II playoffs.
“I want us to go all the way,” Warriors sophomore Mady Cotta said. “We're in it to win it now.”
The victory earned the Warriors a No. 10 seeding and a first-round game at No. 7 Tulare Western on Tuesday, Feb. 21.
“It will be a challenge, but we will prepare to play them hard,” coach Jacques Vachon said after the draw.
The victory over West gave the Warriors a 15-12 record overall, 4-6 in the South Yosemite League, good for fourth place. Tulare Western, meanwhile, went into the playoffs with a 14-12 record, 7-3 and second in the East Yosemite League.
The Warriors needed the victory over West to get into the playoffs, and while it was not artistic, the outcome was never really in doubt, either.
Tehachapi outscored West 17-7 in the first quarter and, while the Vikings got within 5 early in the fourth quarter, their points were coming one at a time from the free throw line.
Aggressive but awkward, and occasionally totally out of control on offense, West got Tehachapi into foul trouble down the stretch, crashing through the paint, tripping, falling beneath the basket and drawing a lot of whistles.
Many of them were questionable. At one point in the second quarter, the refs had whistled the Warriors for 10 fouls, the Vikings for just two.
“It was difficult,” senior Fiona Ferry said.
Ferry, who sat out a significant portion of the second half in foul trouble and eventually fouled out, and freshman Irey Sandholdt shared the scoring lead for Tehachapi with 13 points each.
A key for the Warriors down the stretch was the play of Cotta at both ends of the court, however.
West had pulled within 43-38 with less than six minutes to play when Cotta hit a shot under the basket. Stephanie Suarez followed up from 3-point range, making it 48-38.
The Warriors then extended their lead to 53-41 in a two-minute stretch during which Cotta scored on a fastbreak off her own steal, blocked a shot and drew a charging foul against West.
“They were pretty scrappy,” Cotta said. “They came to play.”
Cotta, Suarez and Teagan Thurman each wound up with nine points. Both Suarez and Thurman also fouled out.
Ferry hit two 3-pointers and scored 8 of her 13 points in the first half. She picked up her fourth foul with 2:17 left before intermission, and sat out until the fourth quarter.
“I think we have a really good team, and we could go all the way,” said Ferry, playing what almost certainly was the final home game of her stellar career.
“It's kind of sad, really,” said her father, Daniel Ferry, an assistant coach.
His daughter took it in stride.
“It could have been better,” she said of her play in that final game, “but I'm happy.”
Lady Warrior Maddy Cotta #11 brings the ball up court while teammate Fiona Ferry brings up the rear.
The Lady Warriors defeated West on the mountain to earn a spot in the post season valley playoffs.
(Photo by The Tehachapi News.)