Fresno City College Womens Basketball team had another dominant season going 26 – 3 overall and 11-1 in Central Valley Conference play to capture their seventh straight conference championship.
They finished as the No.2 team in the state. They are entering the state playoffs as the No.2 seed and are looking to get back to the final four as they did last year, but they were beaten by Mt. San Antonio. This year’s team was led by Sophomore guard/forward Keyora Wherry, who was the conference and NorCal player of the year. She averaged 24 points per game and 13 rebounds a game. Sophomore guard Nina Gregory was 3rd team All-State. Head Coach Brian Tessler was named Co-Coach of the Year.
FCC opened up their playoff run against Laney College. Coach Tessler was nervous before the start of the game noting, “I’m always nervous before a big game. Foothill has some good players who can make plays out on the court.”
Laney come out ready to play in a packed gymnasium at FCC.
The Rams opened the game attacking Laney and getting to the free throw line with 34 attempts, successfully converting 25 of them. The first half was dominated by Wharry as she scored 18 points. Wharry finished the game with 32 points and 14 rebounds. With a 49 – 27 halftime lead, FCC came out sluggish and lacking as Laney’s Madison Mills hit a 3-pointer that pulled the Eagles to a 54-40 deficit with about 15 minutes left in the game.
“We came out and didn’t play well in the second half. [In the] next game we have to keep the pressure for a full 40 minutes,” said Wharry.
Tessler could not explain why FCC came out “so flat” in the second half and stated that the team has done that in four of the last five games.
“If we get a big lead, we have to be able to make shots to put the game out of reach.” said Tessler.
FCC went close to six minutes in the early second half before sophomore Ali Orlich came off the bench and stopped Laney’s early second half run with a corner 3-pointer. Laney tried to make a late effort to get back into the game when Orlich hit huge a 3-pointer with 6:04. Orlich finished with three 3-pointers, scoring 12 points and grabbed 7 rebounds.
“Aly never takes anything lightly, and in the second half she was the key to that game. She didn’t let the lead get any tighter,” said Tessler
City kept the pressure on Laney all night forcing 35 turnovers. All – Conference guard Dominique Pilkinton was the only other Rams player in double figures with 10 points
“Its exciting,to be here and get another playoff victory. We shared this win with the freshman, its a good experience for them. It was good to get this win today,” said Pilkinton
Wharry also became the first female player in FCC history to score more than 700 points in a single season.
FCC will face Solano College (26-4, 16-0) on Wednesday March 5, at Fresno City’s gymnasium
“Solano is a really talented team that went undefeated in their conference and when getting deep into the playoffs every game will be tough,” said Tessler.
