photo by Mike Daly

REDDING, Calif. – The Shasta College women's basketball team finished second in the Golden Valley Conference standings and had enough power ranking points from their tough preseason schedule to earn an at-large berth in the California Community College Athletic Association State Tournament.

The Knights are seeded 16th in the field of 18 in the CCCAA Northern California Regional Bracket and host No. 17 Mission of Santa Clara Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the play-in game to get to the Regional Quarterfinals. The winner advances to play at No. 1 Diablo Valley College on Saturday.

Shasta College is 14-11 overall compared to Mission (16-10), which ranks sixth in the state in scoring (82.6 points per game), first in field goal attempts (84.0 per game), first in steals per game (17.7) and seventh in 3-pointers made per game (8.3).

The Knights are eighth in turnovers per game (8.8), ninth in 3-point percentage (32.5), 13th in 3-pointers made per game (7.2) and 16th in assists (16.2) per game.

Shasta has four players who average in double figures with Kayla Bonomini (14.8), Mari Fernandez (13.0), Justyse Cooper (12.2) and Jordan Martinez (12.2), who also ranks fifth in the state in assists with 169 (an average of 6.8).

The Golden Valley Conference sent two other teams to the state tournament with conference champion College of the Siskiyous, seeded 10th and going to No. 7 Cabrillo College, and No. 18 Lassen College, which heads to No. 15 Santa Rosa Junior College in the other play-in game.