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Clovis West girls hold off Edison in D-I hoops

Friday, Mar. 05, 2010 | 12:09 PM

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Brianna Orlich scored 23 points, including seven free throws in the final 2 minutes to repel an Edison rally, as top-seeded Clovis West High defeated the No. 4 Tigers 71-65 in a Central Section girls Division I semifinal Wednesday night.

Janae Coffee added 20 points for the Golden Eagles (23-4), who will play No. 2 Stockdale (27-3) Saturday at Selland Arena at 6 p.m. in the D-I final for the fourth consecutive year.

The Mustangs won 70-60 last season after Clovis West had prevailed 87-50 in 2008 and 66-59 in '07.

"This script has been writing itself for four years," Clovis West coach Craig Campbell said. "They had a heralded freshman class that is now seniors, and so did we. There will be five [major-college] kids in this game. I have tremendous respect for [the Mustangs]. They have not only good players, but good people."

Keyora Wharry scored seven of her 19 points in the fourth quarter for County/Metro Athletic Conference unbeaten champion Edison (23-6), which trailed 17-0 to open the game, but reduced the gap to 63-60 with 1 minute and 47 seconds remaining.

Then, Eagles order was restored by Orlich -- daughter of Clovis West boys coach Tom Orlich -- who will advance her career at Columbia of the Ivy League.

"We went from almost panic with a 12-point lead to calm and confident when it was three," Campbell said. "Our veterans stepped up and looked really composed."

Division II

No. 2 Yosemite 63, No. 6 Redwood 43: The Badgers are headed to the D-II title game but will be a heavy underdog despite Wednesday's convincing win.

Jenay Herring scored a game-high 25 points, and Sydnee Fipps added 22 in Yosemite's winning effort. But up next in the finals is Hanford, which routed Yosemite 79-32 in last season's semifinal.

Division III

No. 1 Frontier 55, No. 5 Clovis North 50: Rebecca Waller's game-high 22 points were not enough for the No. 5 Broncos to pull off the upset.

Division IV

No. 14 Mission Prep 50, No. 2 Memorial 43: The low-seeded Royals continued their upset run, knocking out the Panthers as Ally Kersthold scored 16 points in the semifinal victory.

Mission Prep also defeated No. 3 Strathmore in the previous round.

Corcoran 51, Sierra 39: Tabby Torres scored 25 points, and the Panthers jumped out to a 24-16 halftime lead and never looked back.

Division V

No. 2 Central Valley Christian 54, No. 3 Immanuel 25: The Cavaliers held the Eagles to eight points or less in every quarter en route to the victory.

CVC's Kacie VanHofwegen led all scorers with 11 points, and teammate Amy Weststeyn added eight.

Immanuel had only four players score, led by Carlie Bertao's eight points.

The top-seeded Eagles received 31 points from Paige Armstrong-Maltos to cruise in the semifinals. No. 1 Fresno Christian 57, No. 4 Kings Christian 45:

Fresno Christian also held Kings Christian to a mere six points in the first quarter.


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