Canyon (Anaheim) girls basketball outduels Rancho Cucamonga for CIF-SS 4AA title: 5 takeaways

Justine Prajitno and Jasmine Prajitno combine for 36 of Canyon's 52 points

ONTARIO, Calif. - Canyon (Anaheim) girls basketball didn't need any more wins to prove itself as one of the turnaround teams of the year.

Entering Saturday, Canyon stood at 21-11 a season after going 7-19.

But now, the turnaround season is complete with a Southern Section title.

The Comanches made a dramatic late push to beat Rancho Cucamonga in the CIF-SS 4AA championship, winning 52-43 at Toyota Arena.

Here are five takeaways from the game:

1. Comanches get it done in crunch time

The most important stat of the game (besides the final score)? 19-8. That was how much Canyon outscored Rancho Cucamonga by in the fourth quarter.

Rancho Cucamonga set the tone for the first third or so of the game, and led by as much as nine points early in the second quarter. But Canyon held the Cougars to one basket during the last five minutes of the half, and finished it on an 8-0 run to trail just 23-22 at halftime.

The Cougars responded by opening the second half on a 6-0 run. But the rest of the game was a slow but continuous Canyon surge. Canyon matched with a 6-0 run of its own, and after trailing 35-33 at the end of three quarters, it sprinted to the finish line with a brilliant fourth quarter.

While the final score indicated a nine-point differential, Canyon didn't seal the win until the last minute, pulling away late behind led by unwavering two-way execution and the shot-making of Justine and Jasmine Prajitno.

"Overall, these girls are super resilient, and they didn't stop believing the whole time," said Canyon head coach Sara Brown. 

"I had to try to kick them out of the gym at 6:30 last night. I'm just so pleased with them sticking with it. Early on, it was back and forth... but once we broke the lead I knew we were in good shape."

2. Twin power rules the day

The Prajitno twins – members of Indonesia's national team – combined for 36 of Canyon's 52 points, and helped anchor Canyon's outstanding defense effort. Their offensive synergy was especially clear down the stretch, establishing a two-man game in transition and finding each after relocations when Rancho Cucamonga upped its ball pressure.

Justine led all scorers with 20 points, and Jasmine recorded 16 points and three assists on 7-11 shooting. The Prajitno's totaled 23 of their 36 combined points in the second half.

Everett Roach and Sofi Majidi each scored eight points to round out Canyon's scoring, and both played all 32 minutes. Majidi hit a pair of momentous three-pointers, and Roach led Canyon with 11 rebounds, setting the tone inside for the undersized Comanches with her physical play. Point guard Mariah Streeter had a quiet night statistically with four points and three assists, but was key in Canyon's ability to handle Rancho Cucamonga's trapping defense and litany of driving threats on the other end.

3. Canyon survives physical disadvantages

With a core of four guards and an undersized power forward, Canyon is smaller than just about every worthy challenger it faces. That made Rancho Cucamonga a particularly tough matchup for the Comanches, and Rancho Cucamonga is tough enough to beat in the first place without specific matchup challenges.

The Cougars are strong, tough, athletic, and physical, with solid size in the backcourt and center Lauren Jensen looming in the paint. Not the kind of team that lacks the quickness in space to hang with the Comanches, but still the kind that can punish them inside.

Punish them inside is exactly what Rancho Cucamonga did, winning the rebounding battle 26-10 in the first half and 51-29 overall. Jensen nearly out-rebounded Canyon herself, pulling in 24 boards with half of them coming on offense. That wasn't because of a lack of boxing out and gang rebounding from Canyon, but it in spite of it. Still, it wasn't enough to overcome a 16-65 (24.6-percent) shooting night.

"This was like a heavyweight fight," Brown said. "We knew we'd have to play a very tough, physical game."

"I think the biggest thing for us was we had to keep the turnovers down. And we had to get back in transition, and then finally, rebound... Just a lot of resilience and toughness [from both teams]. I'm really proud of our girls for finishing the job."

4. Rancho Cucamonga ready to contend in regionals, future section championships

Oftentimes, teams that suffer close, painful losses in section championships are the ones most primed for a regional/state playoff run.

Rancho Cucamonga is a good candidate, entering the state playoffs as one of Division III's most dangerous teams. There isn't a team in the SoCal side of its bracket that Rancho Cucamonga can't beat – when more of its shots are falling.

"We missed a lot of layups," said head coach Josh Khazali.

"We had some good shots that weren't going in. Had some girls get banged up. Foul trouble within our rotation a bit. But those are things you got to fight through. I feel like we didn't necessarily recover from those things."

Freshman guard Zara Ahaiwe was the team's lone hot hand, scoring 10 points in the first half on 4-5 shooting. But she played less than 20 minutes because of foul trouble, and fouled out with just over two minutes left in the game. Her final stat line was 12 points and five rebounds on 5-7 shooting.

Ndiah Hall registered 12 points, eight rebounds, and three steals, and Nakia Perkins had nine points and seven rebounds.

Additionally, Rancho Cucamonga's future is very bright no matter what happens in state playoffs – all four of its leading scorers on Saturday, and nearly all its rotation players, are underclassmen.

"Rancho Cucamonga was a very difficult team to scout," Brown said.

"They have a lot of great players, a lot of really solid athletes. Coach Josh does a really good job over there. This was a tough one."

5. Brown wins fourth CIF-SS title – and first as coach

Brown now has a new crown jewel for one of the more impressive resumes in Southern Section girls basketball history. Namely, three section titles as a star player at San Clemente, a 2AA finals appearance in her first of four seasons as Fairmont Prep's head coach, and a 4AA championship in her first season at Canyon.

"It's really hard to get to this point, I think any coach knows," Brown began when asked about her individual journey. "And I was lucky to win three as a player. My goal was to win one as a coach.

"We lost in 2019-2020 by eight to Orangewood [Academy], and that was really hard," Brown said. 

"But I think it was a lot of learning lessons. Like I said, it takes the right group. It takes the right support. Canyon has been nothing but supportive, and I'm very grateful for the school and [its administration]. This school is actually one of the most amazing sports schools as far as its student-athletes."

"It means a lot," Brown continued. "Like I said, it's all about the team, but personally I really wanted to win one as a coach... so now I can get the monkey off my back."

Khazali didn't hesitate to give credit to the Comanches and their head coach.

"That's a good team," Khazali said. "[Brown] gets them going, does a good job of getting them to play hard. They execute their sets. They know what their strengths are. They get the ball to the shooters.

"And they scrap," he continued. "They play great defense. That was probably some of the best defense we've seen all playoffs."

After the game, Justine Prajitno echoed the sentiment of many of Brown's previous star players.

"She's a competitor, and so are we," Prajitno said.

"She really fires us up, and helps our energy. She always brings us up when we're down. And I'm just really grateful for how she prepares us really well, and how much she cares for us."

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Photo by Lance Smith