Thunderbirds to face East L.A.; Laney, Merritt women fall

The Thunderbirds defeated Foothill College 72–60 at Merritt on March 6 in the Northern California Regional championship game to advance to the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Final Four at Cerritos College in Norwalk on March 13–15.
Merritt will play East Los Angeles College (21–10) on Friday, March 13, at 5 p.m. If the T-Birds win, they will play the winner of the Saddleback College-Cañada College game in the title contest scheduled for Sunday, March 15, at 1 p.m.
Both the Laney College and Merritt women’s teams faltered, the Eagles losing at City College of San Francisco 67–63 on Feb. 28 and the T-Birds 57–54 at Santa Rosa Junior College on Feb. 25. Both were CCCAA NorCal Regional first-round games.
For the Merritt men, it will be the second trip to State Final Four in three years. The Thunderbirds advanced in 2013, losing to Mt. San Antonio College 84–75 in the semifinals.
Merritt (25–6) is the top-seeded Northern California team despite finishing second to College of Marin in the Bay Valley Conference. The №2 NorCal seed is Cañada of Redwood City.
Merritt, which is on an eight-game winning streak, started its road to State with a 70–64 victory at home over Lassen College on Feb. 27. Jovantae Carlton scored 19 points as the T-Birds shot 50 percent (26-of-52) from the floor.
Next up was an away game at City College of Francisco on March 4. Merritt shot a blistering 66.1 percent (39-of 59) of its shots and ran away with a 110–75 victory over the favored Rams.
Denzel Bellot, DJ Kennedy and Carlton each scored 21 points against CCSF.
Merritt played Foothill for the CCCAA NorCal title and won with Carlton leading the way with 19 points. The Thunderbirds were hot from the field again, hitting 55.6 percent (20-of-36) of their shots.
In its three NorCal games, Merritt hit 57.8 percent of its shots (85-for-147).
The Merritt women, who finished the season with a 17–12 record, lost a play-in game to Santa Rosa, despite the Bearcubs missing their first 25 shots. Crystal Clark and Aasimah Bell each scored 11 points for the visiting T-Birds, who finished in a three-way tie for first place (with Laney and Solano College) in the Bay Valley Conference.
Quana Harrison added 10 points for Merritt, which led 33–25 at the half.
Laney (18–11) had stone-cold shooting in its loss to CCSF, hitting just 23 of 70 shots against the Rams. Luisa Delos Reyes led the Eagles with 14 points and Jamika Wilson had 12 off the bench, Robnesha Brigham added 11 as the two teams battled to a 25–25 tie at the half.