Godinez captures CIF State Regional victory, advances into Tuesday’s So Cal final

Godinez players warm up before Thursday’s CIF regional. (PHOTO: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Godinez High School’s girls basketball team is headed to the CIF State So Cal Regional championship game Tuesday night.

The No. 2-seeded Grizzlies defeated No. 3 Tulare Union 41-39 Saturday night at home in the Division IV semifinals to advance into the championship game Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Godinez against No. 5 Palisades which upset top-seeded Marina 51-49 Saturday night.

The winner moves on to the state finals next weekend in Sacramento.

It’s the first time any Godinez basketball team has been in the state tournament.

Valeria Arcos scored 12 points and Crystal Cruz nine points to lead Godinez (19-12).

“Tonight, I was so proud of how my girls grinded it out and gutted out the victory,” Godinez Coach AJ Alaman said. “We knew coming into this game we were going up against a very good defensive team and we were gonna need to be poised, be fundamentally sound on the offensive end and get good looks.

“In the second half, when things weren’t going our way on offense, we didn’t let that affect us from not getting stops on the defensive end. When we needed to we answered back with big shots and nothing bigger than a 3-point bank shot by Emily Cruz. This group is special.”

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com