SACRAMENTO - The CIF Division III state championship was a David versus Goliath matchup between Caruthers, a public school with an enrollment around 650 going up against Granada Hills Charter, a public school with one of the largest enrollments in the state with around 4,600 students But the only place size was a factor was with the Caruthers bigs matching up and outplaying the Granada Hills front line in a 54-48 victory for the girls from the Central Section.
The other thing that was big for Caruthers was a large, raucous contingent of Blue Raiders’ fans, including what looked like the entire student body that made the trip north to the state capital to cheer on their girls.
It was the second CIF state championship for Caruthers after it won the Division V title in 2019.
Emmi Almeida, the daughter of Caruthers head coach Amma Almeida, led the Blue Raiders with 21 points and nine rebounds, plus six assists. Senior Gizelle Aguirre hit three three-pointers and finished with 14 points and seven rebounds.
Jaylee Moore, a 6-1 Caruthers power forward, was matched up with Granada Hills’ 6-4 senior post Brigita Bulotaite, who had 19 points and 12 rebounds in the Highlanders 58-56 victory over Bakersfield Christian in the SoCal D3 title game. In this game it was the freshman Moore more than holding her own against Bulotaite. Moore finished with nine points, four rebounds and four assists while limiting the Highlanders’ post to 10 points and six rebounds before Bulotaite fouled out.
It was 16-8 Caruthers after one quarter but by halftime Granada Hills Charter had cut it to a 29-24 deficit. The Highlanders got it to 31-30 on a three-pointer by sophomore Alyssa Badua, but the Blue Raiders responded. With the score 35-32, Almeida scored eight straight points and Caruthers closed out the third quarter with a 12-2 run to make it 47-34 heading to the fourth, and that pretty much sealed things.
Besides Bulotaite, the Highlanders got a team-high 15 points (two three-pointers) from senior Karma Paez and 11 points and six rebounds from senior Gabriella Arellano.
For Coach Almeida, who has been at the Caruthers helm for nearly 20 years, being able to win a state championship with her daughter as star of the game was an ultimate accomplishment.
“Coaching her has been special, and we would always talk about doing this together, and I couldn’t wait to be here with her,” Coach Almeida said in conclusion. “To be able to do this here is really special because I got what I’ve spent 19 years at Caruthers waiting for.”
