Caruthers girls basketball team headed to CIF State Championship

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- The Caruthers girls basketball team, a 14-seed, is headed to the Division-III State Championship after defeating No. 1 University (San Francisco) 58-55 Tuesday night.

The Blue Raiders' journey to the Golden 1 Center has been filled with upsets, beating No. 3 Christopher, No. 2 Central, and No. 1 University.

This will be the program's second state title appearance. In 2019, Head Coach Anna Almeida led the Blue Raiders to a D-V State Championship with a 62-38 win over Ramona.

Caruthers (24-8) will now face No. 5 Granada Hills Charter (21-11) at 2:00 pm this Friday from the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.

Other CIF State Playoff scores:

Girls' Open Division NorCal Regional Final

No. 2 Clovis West 34

No. 1 Archbishop Mitty 71

After winning a 12th consecutive CIF Central Section Title, the Golden Eagles' run comes to an end against the No. 1 ranked team in the nation. The Monarchs jumped to a 16-0 lead from the jump and never looked back to stay a perfect (30-0) on the season.

Boys' D-III NorCal Regional Final

No. 6 Bullard 56

No. 1 Santa Cruz 61

The Knights (26-9) put together an impressive run despite losing Sophomore star Ja'Vance Coleman to a season-ending broken foot in January.

Fresno State Women's Basketball

Fresno State 58

New Mexico 72

After a 39-28 Bulldog lead at halftime, the Lobos spoiled Fresno State's Senior Night, outscoring the 'Dogs 44-19 in the second half.

Fresno State recognized two seniors in the final home game of the season: Keely Brown and Deajanae Harvey.

Harvey transferred to Fresno State from Palomar College and spent one year in a Bulldog uniform. The guard led the Bulldogs with 14 points in Tuesday's loss.

Brown spent three years with the program after redshirting in the 2021-22 campaign. She finished with 6 points against New Mexico.

Fresno State is now preparing for the Mountain West Conference Tournament as the 9th seed. The Bulldogs will face No. 8 Air Force from Las Vegas on Sunday, March 10th.

If the Bulldogs can pull off the minor upset, they'll face No. 1 UNLV on March 11th.

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