Coyotes find way to hold off Monarchs, advance to next round

Eduardo Miranda

The Daily Independent

After finishing the Inland Empire Athletic Conference season in second place, the Cerro Coso women's basketball team earned the overall eighth seed in the 2025 California Community College Athletic Association SoCal Regionals playoff. The eighth seed came with a home game, and the Coyotes hosted 24th-seeded Los Angeles Valley College, and after strong second and third quarters the Coyotes defeated the Monarchs 72-61.

"We found a way to win and that's all that matters," said head coach Keshawn Johnson on the win and getting his first playoff win at Cerro Coso. "We said it, we don't have to go blow a team out, we don't have to do anything other than find a way to win. They really scrapped and L.A. Valley played their best brand of basketball and competed with us. And we found a way to win. That's all we care about.

"Feels good (to get the playoff win). No credit to me; all credit to the players, all credit to my staff, all credit to the admins at Cerro Coso. All I did was stand there and the group showed up and they put in the work from August on and their work is paying off. All credit to the players in our program, our staff for opening the gym, and the athletic staff for letting us do what we can do to be successful."

In the team matchup, the Coyotes won three categories, beating the Monarchs in total rebounds 31-30 – winning defensive rebounds 21-20 but tying in offensive rebounds 10-10 – assists 7-5, and blocks 1-0. The two teams tied in steals at four, but the Coyotes lost the turnovers battle 17-13.

Cerro Coso shot 49.1% from the field, 30% from the three-point line, and 66.7% from the free-throw line. The Coyotes' defense held the Monarchs to 35.3% from the field, 33.3% from the three-point line, but 83.3% from the free-throw line.

The Coyotes were led by Inland Empire Athletic Conference Player of the Year Shaniyah McCarthy with a double-double of 22 points and 11 rebounds with five on the offensive glass. Alexis Staton had 12 points with six rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Off the bench, Lia Sims had 16 points with four rebounds.

After the first quarter ended 12-12, the Coyotes' defense shifted to a higher gear in holding the Monarchs to nine points in 10 minutes. The defense then translated into easy buckets, allowing the home team to score 20 points and take a 32-21 lead into the half. In the first three minutes, Sims hit a corner three, made a layup, and scored another three for a 20-14 lead and forcing L.A. Valley to call a timeout.

Following the timeout, the Coyotes continued to hold the Monarchs to one-and-done by dominating the boards, forced contested shots late in the shot clock, and even had a couple of shot clock violations. The offense continued with McCarthy getting a steal for an easy layup and Savannah Rowland making two free throws after a steal and then made a corner three forcing another Monarch timeout with a 27-16 lead with four minutes left in the half.

The half ended with Shayla Kantarevic making a three and McCarthy scoring a layup but missed the and-one free throw for a 32-21 lead at the half.

Coming out of the locker room, the Coyotes continued to play strong defense and offense in the third, which allowed them to take full control of the match and secure their place in the next round. The quarter began with a 7-0 run by the Coyotes with McCarthy hitting a floater in the lane, making one of two from the free-throw line, and making a layup. Staton finished the run with a layup off a steal to force an L.A. Valley timeout and extend the lead to 39-21.

After the timeout, the visitors scored a three to stop the run but the Coyotes responded with Rowland and McCarthy scoring on layups. Before Johnson called a timeout late in the third, Staton grabbed an offensive rebound and made the layup, and Sims and Staton scored back-to-back layups for a 49-31 lead.

The quarter ended with Sierra Dixson making a corner three, McCarthy grabbing the offensive rebound and making the layup, Sims making a layup but missing the and-one free throw, Dixson making a layup off a steal, and Rowland missing her free throws after being fouled on a last second shot. Cerro Coso went into the final quarter leading 58-38 and in complete control of the game.

Johnson said on his team's performance in the second and third quarters, "on the defensive side that was our mentality: whatever happens on one end doesn't affect you on the other. If you miss a shot just get back and find a way to defend. For us, to be honest, a lot of our key contributors didn't find success on the offensive side, so for them to still respond and defend and find ways to wear L.A. Valley with our press was huge. Kudos to our group for making it about the defensive side and not the offensive side."

With the win, the Coyotes advance to the next round and earned the chance to advance to State. But they will go up against the SoCal overall No. 1 seed Orange Coast on the road on Saturday.

Johnson said on facing the top seed, "we don't even think about rankings, we just think about it as one game at a time. We will do the same thing we have been doing all year: hit the films, the scouting reports, and then we go play. We will do the same thing we have been doing all year. It's just one game, so all we have to do is find a way to survive and advance. That's the mentality right now."

Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.