CIF basketball regionals: Central and Caruthers girls, SJM and Sierra boys on to finals

The Central and Caruthers girls and Sierra boys went on the road Saturday and scored CIF high school basketball Northern California regional semifinal victories.

The San Joaquin Memorial boys join the Fresno area’s road warriors in reaching Tuesday’s 7 p.m. regional finals, each one win away from the state championship at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.

The Clovis West and Clovis girls, who played last week for the Central Section championship, each lost on the road to end historic seasons.

Central 46, Marin Catholic 44

The fourth-seeded Grizzlies traveled to Kentfield and knocked off Division II’s top seed on Talia Maxwell’s driving basket with 1.5 seconds left.

Central, which exited the section D-I playoffs in the quarterfinals, started the regionals with two double-digit wins against Bay Area teams before Saturday’s thriller. The Grizzlies (21-12) next play at No. 2 Pleasant Valley-Chico (30-3).

Caruthers 55, Granada 50

The No. 9 Blue Raiders won their third straight road game in the D-III regionals and cemented their reputation as a small-school powerhouse.

Caruthers trailed in Livermore 31-28 at halftime and 44-43 after three quarters before powering past the Matadors.

Morgan Trigueiro led the Blue Raiders with 26 points, 19 in the first half to help steady her team in a packed gym. Trigueiro scored 35 and became the school’s career scoring leader (passing Brooke Stanley 2001-04) in Thursday’s win at top-seeded University-San Francisco.

Freshman Emmi Almeida had 13 points and seven rebounds, and Anissa Torres scored all seven of her points in the fourth quarter and totaled five steals.

Caruthers, which played up in the section D-I playoffs and lost at Open Division team Clovis West in the quarterfinals, was it again Saturday. Enrollments, according to Public School Review: Granada 2,334; Caruthers 649.

The state 2019 D-V champs next face a similar opponent in No. 3 Colfax (enrollment 640). The Falcons (30-3) have won 12 Sac-Joaquin Section titles including this year in D-IV.

Tuesday’s game could be weather permitting; Colfax is northeast of Auburn on Interstate 80.

San Joaquin Memorial 68, Weston Ranch 59

The No. 6 Panthers (24-9) beat the No. 7 visitors from Stockton for their third straight D-II regional win in the cozy SJM gym. Next is a trip to No. 5 Vanden-Fairfield (25-10).

Sierra 71, Venture Academy 55

The No. 5 Chieftains got 27 points from junior Logan Kilbert and beat the D-V top seed in Stockton. Sierra (30-5) plays at No. 3 Ripon Christian (26-7).

Archbishop Mitty 63, Clovis West 43

The third-seeded Central Section champions lost in the Open Division semifinals against their San Jose rivals for the second straight year.

St. Mary’s 55, Clovis 48

The No. 5 Cougars were eliminated by the D-I top seed in Stockton.