Blog: Coyotes to Play for CIF Championship Against Alemany This Afternoon

Now for the encore.

The Calabasas girls basketball team fought back from a 17-point deficit to defeat Santa Barbara in last Saturday night's CIF-Southern Section Division 3AA semifinals.

Today, the Coyotes will look to knock off the divisions' top-seed, Bishop Alemany, at 4:45 p.m. at the Anaheim Convention Center.

"They're a great team," said Coyotes first-year coach Jamie Rauchwarger. "They're well-coached. They're going to give it their all and we're going to give it our all. Whoever hits a few more shots or makes a few more defensive stops is going to be on top at the end."

Calabasas (20-8), which finished 9-5 and in third place in the Marmonte League during the regular season, takes on an Alemany team which is ranked 13th in the state and 58th in the nation by Maxpreps (Calabasas is 93rd and 959th).

The Coyotes have proven all year, but particularly in the playoffs, that they are not fazed by pressure-filled moments. They trailed Santa Barbara 50-33 in the third quarter, but chipped away at the Dons' lead and eventually sent the game to overtime.

Calabasas freshman point guard Roxanna Barahman scored 29 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Coyotes against Santa Barbara. Megan Charles, a senior guard, had 15 points, including three 3-point baskets.

Lauren Tse, who Rauchwarger describes as, "Our defensive stopper. she guards the best player on the other team and stops them from scoring," was also vital during the second-half comeback.

Santa Barbara's Ivette Gil scored 23 points in the first half of the semifinals. In the second half, Tse switched her defensive assignment and guarded Gil. Tse held Gil to six points and only one field goal in the second half and overtime.

A stirring comeback was not something new for the Coyotes.

"We call ourselves 'The Comeback Kids,'" Charles said. "It seems like every game we're always down and we always come back. We kind of get together and say, 'We've got to pick it up.'"

For a team that won only seven games all of last year, the change this season may seem striking, but Rauchwarger set the tone when she took over by telling her players they would become a team that is as fit as any around.

"I think our biggest strength is that we run and run and run," Rauchwarger said. "My goal when I got the job in July was that I wanted us to be the most in-shape, well-conditioned team in the Marmonte League."

Santa Barbara scored 44 points in the first half against Calabasas. That the Dons only scored 22 in the second half and overtime indicated they were tired, while the Coyotes were still fresh.

Rauchwarger is the fourth Coyotes' head coach in four years. She told her players that the culture had to be transformed from a losing mentality to a winning one. And for the players, the feeling that things were always in flux began to change.

Stability and hard work lead to wins

"When I first started out, we didn't really have a bond with our coach," said Jaclyn Goodman, a senior forward and co-captain with Charles and Tse. "This year, especially with Jaimie, she's formed that bond with us. She has gotten us to really trust her and she has trust in us to do things on the court."

Tse agreed with her teammate.

"Things are all working out this year," she said. "Especially after four years with four different coaches. It's difficult because of so much instability. But definitely this year our program has turned around."

Rauchwarger only had since July 16, the day she was interviewed and hired for the job, to mold the Coyotes into a winner.

"I think we've accomplished even more than I thought they would be capable of because they just work hard every single day," said Rauchwarger. "They don't give up and that's what shows their character as a team.

"When we were down to Santa Barbara by 17, we didn't give up. We came back. They have a lot of fight. My whole team has hearts of lions."

Jackelyne Nguyen, a junior forward, plays the post and starts with Barahman - the Coyotes' only freshman - Charles, Tse and Goodman.

Alex Webb, a senior guard, and Ellie Berke, a junior guard, provide shooting off the bench and Arine Costanian, a senior, adds strength to Calabasas' inside game, but can also hit shots from the perimeter.

Senior forward Karine Pagus, and two sophomore forwards, Anna Winter and Rana Massrourrod, are indispensible because of the contributions they make during practice, said the coach.

"They don't get a lot of playing time during games, but if we didn't have them during practice, we wouldn't be successful during games," Rauchwarger said. "They put the work in during practice and help get their teammates better."

Charles said the Coyotes have earned their chance to play for a championship.

"I didn't know that we would go this far," she said. "But I think we deserve it. We worked really hard in the preseason and during the (regular) season and the hard work has been paying off."

Win or lose against Alemany, Rauchwarger said what's most important is a lesson she learned for her high school coach, Lindsay Strothers, for whom she starred at Oak Park High as a freshman to help the Eagles win a CIF championship.

"He taught me a valuable lesson," Rauchwarger said. "Each game is just a game and you perform to the best of your ability every game. That's kind of the message I've given to my girls.

"It's an important game as far as where we finish, but if they play as hard and as well as they can, then at the end of the day we'll be successful no matter what the scoreboard says. But it's going to be a battle and they're going to leave their hearts on the court."