Oakland Tech wins Santiago Corona

SACRAMENTO — The Oakland Tech women’s basketball team craved one final challenge.

For this wildly successful group of Bulldogs, there was only a single piece of hardware missing from the veterans’ trophy case.

A Division I state title.

The Bulldogs previously won Division IV in 2019 and III in 2022. In 2020, the group had even clinched NorCal as a Division II team before the championship game was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Manager Leroy Hurt knew his team could compete with the best if given the chance, and he said as much after the 2022 title game.

A year later, Tech took over the Golden 1 Center court as NorCal’s representative in their Division I title game against Santiago-Corona. And just as the team had done so many times over the past four years, the Bulldogs dunked their foe in the fourth quarter en route to a XX win.

It was the school’s first Division I state championship since the great Alexis Gray-Lawson led the team to back-to-back Division I titles in 2004 and 2005.

Oakland trailed 15–14 after a quarter, with Santiago capitalizing on tech turnovers and free throws to control the game’s pace. However, the Bulldogs came back in the second half. Tech moved into a 2-3 zone and Santiago was unable to open his three points from the corners.

On the other side, Oakland Tech’s Taliyah Logwood tore through Santiago’s defense in space, scoring eight points in the first half and pushing the ball in transition.

Santiago led 20-18 early in the quarter, but Tech made it 7-0, marked by a Mari Somvichian three-pointer from the right wing and an old-fashioned midrange shot plus the foul for an even more old-fashioned shot. rookie Terri’A Russell’s three-point play.

The third quarter began with a three-pointer by Erin Sellers and a quick layup by Logwood, but Santiago had an 8-0 run over the next two minutes. After that, the two heavyweights spent the rest of the quarter battling it out.

Russell made the difference, scoring six points and playing solid assist defense on Santiago’s drives. Tech ended the quarter 52-45.

The Bulldogs clinched the title in the fourth quarter, starting the fourth with a 12–4 streak. Jada Williams got two fastbreak layups, Sellers singled out a ball handler from Santiago for another easy lay-in to end the run.

At the end of the game, visiting Granada fans, who were waiting for the start of the men’s first division championship, joined in the cheerful “OT” chants.

The Oakland Tech seniors ended their high school careers with two state titles and zero playoff losses.