The Roosevelt High girls basketball team set a goal last summer of playing at Selland Arena in the Central Section Division III final.
The Rough Riders will do just that Saturday, when they take on the winner of No. 2 Porterville/No. 3 Hanford West at 2 p.m. The top-seeded Rough Riders pulled out a 63-56 win over No. 4 Golden Valley, a Tuesday night semifinal at Roosevelt to advance.
Roosevelt has never won a section title in girls basketball, but now it finds itself on the brink of achieving that milestone, seven years after enduring a 42-game losing streak.
"We didn't play our best tonight, but we pulled through," said junior guard Trinity Washington, who scored seven points in the game.
Roosevelt senior guard Vanessa Gomez led all scorers with 24 points; she scored eight in the fourth quarter, four in the final minute.
"This team has answered every challenge all year," said Roosevelt coach Mark Gradoville, whose team improved to 27-2. "[Golden Valley] cut it to one and the game was up for grabs, and they sucked it up and found a way to win."
Roosevelt led by as many as nine in the fourth quarter, but the Bulldogs fought back, closing it to 55-54 with 2:02 left on a basket by Jalisha Toomer. Roosevelt opened the lead to three, but Golden Valley answered again, making it 57-56 with 1:03 left on a Victoria Worthy basket. Lashari Clayborne made one of two free throws for the Rough Riders after a technical foul to make it 58-56. Gomez scored with 1:00 left to make it 60-56. A Mahogany May steal and Gomez basket with 16 seconds left opened it to 62-56.
Clayborne finished with 18 points, including five three-pointers.
Toomer led Golden Valley (18-12) with 14 points. Worthy (12), Alisha Toomer (11) and Shanesha Epps (11) also scored in double digits for the Bulldogs.
"We've wanted this as a team and now we're there," said Gomez, a four-year starter. "Getting to the finals ... this is bigger than anything we've ever accomplished."
Roosevelt takes a 15-game winning streak into the final. But although it's the team's first trip to the championship -- the Rough Riders lost in the first round of the section playoffs the past three seasons -- the players say just making it is not enough now.
"Our first goal was to get to Selland Arena, but we're not going to be satisfied with just getting there," Clayborne said.
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