COMMUNITY COLLEGE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL : State Finals Familiar Turf for Golden West

Golden West and the women’s state basketball tournament have been close acquaintances in recent years.

Before this season, Golden West had made five consecutive trips to the state tournament.The Rustlers (27-5) make it six today when they’ll play Allan Hancock (28-5) in a 4 p.m. quarterfinal game at Merritt College in Oakland.

Golden West reached the semifinals in 1987 and 1988 and lost in the quarterfinals in 1989, before winning the last two state titles.

This will be the second meeting of the teams this season. Hancock stopped the Rustlers, 83-67, in the semifinals of the Canyons Tournament in December.

But Golden West, the top-seeded team from Southern California, has since won 17 of its last 19 games, including victories over Canyons (105-76) and Antelope Valley (89-74) in the playoffs.

Sophomore forward Jennifer Harney, who scored a career-high 42 against Canyons, is averaging 17.5 points and seven rebounds. Her 42-point game was the third-highest in Golden West history.

Sophomore center Jenny Sullivan joined Harney on the all-Orange Empire Conference team. Sullivan averaged 16 points and 14 rebounds.

In the other quarterfinal-round games, Long Beach (24-6) will face College of the Siskiyous (26-5) at 2 p.m., Los Angeles Harbor (27-6) takes on College of the Sequoias (26-5) at 6 p.m., and El Camino (18-13) faces Lassen (32-1) at 8 p.m.