Here we go again—earlier in the week, the Poly girls’ basketball team traveled on the road to face a hot-shooting, undersized dynamo in the Corona Santiago Sharks. Change the opponent and the location, and you’ve got a similar sort of matchup in tonight’s CIF semifinal match, which will be held at Cabrillo at 7pm.
The Troy Warriors, Poly’s opponent, are 28-1 on the season, and haven’t lost since December 31st of last year. The tallest starter for the Warriors is just 5’11”, but ‘Rabits coach Carl Buggs warned earlier in the playoffs against taking Troy lightly. “They might be the most complete team in the tournament,” he said. “They can all shoot, too. They can absolutely shoot the lights out.”
The Warriors to watch is definitely Alex Sanchez, a tall junior guard who shoots better than 50% and is averaging 14 points per-game, much of it from the outside. Fellow guard, and one of the Warriors’ few seniors, Chrystal Guarin is averaging 11 per-game, and she’s an incredibly efficient scorer, with 314 points this season off just 215 shot attempts. In the middle, it’s Madalane Barrett leading the Warriors on the boards, with seven rebounds per-game—Barrett is one of just three listed forwards or centers on the whole roster, and stands at all of 5’11”. Sanchez looks like the key though—in that last loss, she scored only 8 points on below-40% shooting.
If Poly wants to win this game to advance to another CIF championship, against either Cajon or Perris, they’ll need to contain Troy’s shooters, and squeeze as much out of their height advantage as possible. Santiago’s dynamic shooter, Jasmine Lister, managed to do a good job of creating havoc in the Poly D on Wednesday, as she scored 23—she helped the Sharks surge in the second half to come within six points late in the third quarter. Buggs and his ‘Rabbits can’t let Sanchez get on that kind of a roll tonight.
Of course, Poly does have a number of advantages—first, experience. Buggs says this year’s squad is his deepest, and one of his most experiences, with most girls on the roster having been through last year’s CIF and state tournaments. The Warriors, on the other hand, are incredibly young, with just two seniors on their twelve-player roster. In a rowdy atmosphere that youth might become a liability. It may also be the reason behind the Warriors’ late-half fades. In the first and third quarters, they average 32.3 points—in the second and fourth, they average just over 27. With Poly’s depth and experience, they may be able to outlast Troy even if the Warriors start hot.
The biggest and most obvious advantage for Poly is…well, she’s pictured above. Monique Oliver is on an absolute tear through the postseason, averaging 15 points and 8 rebounds a game. With help on the inside from Thaddesia Southall, who’s developed into a proficient shotblocker, rebounder, and scorer, as well as TaNitra Byrd and the recovering Sheila Boykin, Poly should be able to work in the paint—the Jackrabbits also average 38 rebounds per-game to the Warriors’ 26, so they may be able to dominate the glass as well. If they can, and they can limit Troy’s clean looks from the perimeter, they should be able to make it out of tonight’s game just fine.