Not too many “experts” believed Sierra Canyon could win Saturday night’s Southern Section Open Division girls’ basketball final against defending champion and top-seeded Ontario Christian.
However, Jerzy Robinson and her teammates sure did. Led by their South Carolina-bound senior, the Trailblazers won the upper division title for the second time in four seasons with a gritty 69-62 victory at Toyota Arena in Ontario.
Robinson epitomized Sierra Canyon’s “refuse to lose” mindset. She played all 32 minutes, finishing with a game-high 32 points and 12 rebounds. Afterward, she stood on the team bench, waved her arms and shouted to the Trailblazer faithful they were “No. 1.”
And they are — for now. The teams could wind up facing each other again in the regional playoffs, but this night was Robinson’s to savor.
“This is for the championship and we wanted it more tonight,” said Robinson, who sealed the win on a layup off an inbounds play with less than 20 seconds left. “This is what we work so hard every day for.”
On the same court and exactly one year after claiming its first Southern Section Open Division crown, Ontario Christian found out just how hard it is to repeat. The Knights were outscored 18-6 in the fourth quarter.
Kaleena Smith, touted as one of the best juniors in the country, came into the contest averaging 32.5 points per game. She scored 30 in her head-to-head matchup with Robinson. Each had 17 points in the first half, Robinson banking in a three-pointer from half court at the buzzer to pull the Trailblazers to within six.
UC Irvine commit Delaney White, a senior transfer from Oak Park, and senior center Emilia Krstevski each added 10 points for third-seeded Sierra Canyon (30-2), which last won the Open title in 2022-23 behind Gatorade National Player of the Year Juju Watkins, now at USC.
It was the second straight upset for the Trailblazers, who had stunned No. 2 Etiwanda on its home court four days earlier.
“When we were behind it just made us play harder.” added Robinson, who is the consensus No. 1 recruit in the 2026 class. “We were telling each other, ‘go out there and get it!’ We’ve been working on our ball screen defense all year and we relied on it tonight.”
Dani Robinson scored 16 points for the Knights (32-2), who were the No. 1-ranked team in California and No. 2 nationally, having lost only once by two points to Bishop McNamara of Forestville, Md.
Since Smith arrived on campus in 2023, Ontario Christian has won 89 of 98 games. Sierra Canyon, which was undefeated in Mission League play, has won 12 in a row since a 70-60 loss to Long Island (N.Y.) Lutheran.
“My composure comes from my teammates,” Robinson said. “I have so much faith in them.”
The win came two hours after the boys’ team beat Harvard-Westlake, giving the Chatsworth school a sweep of the Open Division titles. Many of the boys stayed to watch the girls’ triumph.
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