By Carla Thomas

Hundreds of fans packed into the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento on Friday, March 10 for the California Interstate Federation (CIF) Division 1 Girls Basketball Championship between Oakland Technical High School and Santiago High from Corona near Riverside.

Oakland Tech’s Bulldogs clearly also wanted the championship more, although their game was more of a struggle for three quarters. They were down one point at the end of the first quarter, up by seven points at the half and at the end of the third quarter. But in the fourth, the team poured it on, outscoring Santiago 23-7. The final score was 75-52.

“It’s history, we made history and we never lost,” said senior guard Erin Sellers who scored 14 points with one assist. “I think it’s really because everyone said we couldn’t. They said we couldn’t play with a D-1 team, but not only did we play with them, we blew most of them out, and we got it done.”

“It means everything,” said senior guard Mari Somvichian who scored seven points and had two assists. “I mean, to come in as a freshman and literally never lose a playoff game, is crazy. We’ve won three — well, I would say two and a half.”

(In 2020, the team was scheduled to play in their state championship game, but the day before the game, the CIF shut down all athletics because of the pandemic.)

“We’ve literally never lost, and to go out our senior year, our last game being a Division-1 State Championship, you really could not write it better.”

“It’s us. It’s not what the other team is doing,” said head coach Leroy Hurt about how his team accomplished their goal. “And I’m just so proud of these kids. You guys just don’t know. It was an emotional roller coaster. Every game was a huge game…And to win Division 1—I didn’t see it coming. I just knew we were going to be a tough out. And if we lost, some team was going to have to come beat us.”

Oakland had the biggest and loudest contingent of fans, and at one point during the Oakland Tech game, the fans were doing their signature “O.T.” chant, and even got fans from Livermore — who were there to cheer on Granada High in a later game — to join in the chant.

Oakland Tech graduate and former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Josh Johnson sat courtside to watch the games and cheer on his daughter, Jhai Johnson, who plays for Tech. He was beaming with pride after Tech sealed the victory.

“This is a proud father moment. This is a blessing from God to be able to watch your child play this game, and see her get this experience…But also, this is for Oakland, this is huge. So, to see us getting back to the prestige we belong to, this is what we deserve,” Johnson said.

Board of Education District 1 Director Benjamin (Sam) Davis was thrilled to attend. “I had such a blast, after a heavy week of work, to get to watch these two (Oakland High Boys Basketball team won the state championship the same night), top notch teams play from courtside was unforgettable…They were amazing wins. They extended the dynasty of our Bulldogs Girls team, so meaningful for seniors who won titles through the pandemic and brought it home yet again.”

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