OAKLAND — The dual towers of Oakland Tech have been taken down — by a 5-foot-6 freshman level guard.
Janelle Solis, Piedmont’s phenom flooring common, had a slingshot for every of them because the Highlanders went into the Bulldogs’ gymnasium and left with a 60-29 victory within the first spherical of the CIF NorCal women basketball regional.
Solis’ 12 factors don’t start as an example her impression. Her ball-handling and playmaking had No. 9 seed Piedmont rolling from the opening tip. The eighth-seeded Bulldogs by no means discovered their footing.
“She’s better than advertised,” Oakland Tech coach Leroy Harm stated. “I thought we could contain her. I’m used to containing anybody. Not tonight. She got in the lane. Got foul calls. She had a good game, played well and controlled the game.”
Tech’s duo of junior bigs, Jhai Johnson and Terri’A Russell, had little impression regardless of their important dimension benefit. Johnson received in early foul hassle, however Harm left her in, hoping the Bulldogs would calm down.
However she picked up her fourth foul with 5 minutes left within the second quarter. The hosts had been down 24 when she sat. Johnson completed with six factors.
With out their greatest participant cooking, Oakland Tech went down onerous. The Bulldogs gained 9 video games by no less than 30 factors this season. However Piedmont flipped the script.
Making the night time even sweeter for the Highlanders: they get a house sport now. That’s as a result of No. 16 San Joaquin Memorial upset top-seeded Folsom on Tuesday night time. So Piedmont will host the Panthers on Thursday night time at 7 p.m. for a spot within the NorCal semifinals.
The Highlanders (24-5) would love to start out the sport like they did at Oakland Tech (20-10). Piedmont opened with a 14-0 run. Solis, utilizing her quickness and tight deal with, knifed her approach via the Bulldogs’ protection and broke into paint repeatedly. She scored seven factors within the first quarter, drilling a three-pointer and making all 4 of her free throws.
She managed the tempo and saved a dazed Bulldogs group off steadiness all night time lengthy.
Piedmont’s technique of swarming the Tech bigs and forcing different gamers to beat them labored completely. And with Solis and Briana Webb — who led Piedmont with 19 factors — attacking them inside and getting them in foul hassle, the Highlanders neutralized Tech’s dimension benefit.
The Bulldogs didn’t rating their first basket till six minutes, 30 seconds into the sport, when Johnson was fouled on a layup.
“Normally we’re the team to get hit in the mouth and we usually have to pick ourselves up,” Piedmont coach Bryan Gardere stated. “Today, we were doing the swinging and then trying to hold onto it. But we knew they were going to put up a good fight because Oakland Tech is a great program.”
Piedmont behind Solis was simply regular. She discovered her teammates repeatedly. They scored bucket after bucket, drew foul after foul. The women in black shocked the packed home at Oakland Tech, who not often see the Bulldogs get dominated.
Tech’s success this season begins and ends with Johnson and Russell, who completed with 9 factors. They got here into the sport averaging a mixed 35.4 factors on the season. Tuesday night time, they had been 20 factors under that common.
The Highlanders made certain these two felt pressured. They contested each layup. They boxed out Johnson and Russell aggressively all night time lengthy, irritating them. Each had been visibly agitated and off their sport. These frustrations led to 4 fouls for Russell and Johnson fouling out of the sport one minute into the fourth quarter — all however guaranteeing the Bulldogs’ early exit from the match.
“I’m at a loss for words,” Harm stated. “You’ve got to give them credit. I’ve been warning the kids that we’ve got to be more than those two players all year. Clearly we weren’t tonight. Foul trouble hurt with Jhai. But they didn’t play well.”
