SPECIAL REPORT: Year of the Tigers

The Imperial Tigers girls basketball team's unforgettable and historic journey through the CIF state playoffs.

IMPERIAL, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - The Imperial High School girls basketball team had a magical and record setting journey this season making it all the way to the CIF State Championship for the first time in the school's history.

According to the Chinese zodiac, the most relevant "Year of the Tiger" happens to be 2022. It's said tigers considered to be brave, cruel, forceful, and terrifying are the symbol of power; and power is exactly what the Imperial High Tigers brought this season.

A true David versus Goliath story.

The Imperial Tigers have dominated the Imperial Valley taking the league champion title in 11 of the past 12 years. However, all of that success never produced a single win in the State Playoffs.

That is until this year, when things drastically changed.

Coach Rich Ponchione said when he took over the program 20 years ago, it was not a strong program and they started from the bottom.

"We had problems finding players," Coach Ponchione said. "We really did nothing in the off season, so it was basically pick up a basketball and go play during the season and of course that's not a good formula for winning."

He said it took him time to become a better coach.

"Over the years, we worked at Frank Wright Middle School," Ponchione said. "We developed a summer program, we started a JV league here at the school which also includes freshman and incoming freshman from the junior high. We've been going to camps, so we go to San Diego three to four times in a summer to help develop the girls."

Coach Ponchione said he can't believe how far they've come.

"I still look back into the stats and whatnot," Ponchione said. "I still can't believe we made it to Sacramento."

Coach Ponchione said these group of girls are just gamers.

Junior forward and Tiger team captain Sierra Morris takes pride in her team.

"We're small, but we'll definitely bring it on the court defensively," Morris said. "We'll play to the very last second."

Imperial had another successful season but ended in familiar fashion. They lost to Fallbrook in the San Diego Section, Division Two Championship.

But even though they lost, the tigers received an at-large bid in the CIF State Playoffs and were dropped down into division four.

Imperial was seeded as a six seed and hosted their first state playoff game against Heritage.

"Honestly I thought they got it wrong," Ponchione said. "I thought we were the 11th seed and somehow they mixed it up online."

The Tigers had never won a state playoff game and leading up to that game, Coach Ponchione didn't know if it would happen this season.

"We only had one practice before that and it was a really bad practice," Coach Ponchione said.

The Tigers used the home court to their advantage and rolled past Heritage 50-21.

Coach Ponchione said after losing the championship game, he was a little nervous about how the girls were going to respond but the girls ended up playing incredible.

Two days later, the Imperial Tigers were off to Santa Barbara. Once again, they gained another first. A second win in a row and the program's first state road win. They defeated San Marcos 43-30.

"Games can get tough or hard and we may feel like giving up but I feel we just need a little bit of motivation and positivity and we'll be alright," Morris said.

Next was a Southern Regional showdown with defending Division Five State Champion Trinity Classical Academy.

The Tigers relentless defense and some key free throws made by freshman Nayeli Cardona helped Imperial achieve another shocker, a 33-30 win.

Junior point guard Xiomara Cardona expressed how exciting it is to share this moment with her sister and father.

"Nay loves to shoot the ball and I don't sometimes so we have a really good balance," Cardona said. "I'll pass it to her and I'll give her the look and she'll know to take the shot and when she knows that she can't take the shot, she'll pass it to me and then I'll know, okay it's my time. To be able to share these amazing experiences together is just so unreal and I love my dad being on the sidelines because he was the one who taught me how to play basketball."

The win advanced the Tigers to the Southern Section Title game against top seed Yucca Valley.

Again, a hard fought game came down to free throws and this time, the Tigers fate lay in the hands of a player who just started playing basketball three years ago, Sophomore Guard Georgia Gomez.

"When I was going up to that line, I was just praying Lord give me the strength to make these free throws and get this team what they deserve because they've worked so hard," Gomez said.

Georgia's prayers were answered and the Tigers managed the impossible, winning the Southern Region Title and advancing to the State Championship in Sacramento.

The Tigers are led by the Cardona sisters, Xiomara and Nayeli, Juniors Sierra Morris and Amy Riley, sophomore Georgia Gomez and a great supporting cast on the bench including senior Mariel Gutierrez who is from Mexicali.

"It means a lot for me because it's my first year at Imperial and my last year of high school," Gutierrez. "It's really crazy because I just come to study and to have more opportunities and we finished in Sacramento playing on a NBA court. Like wow this is crazy."

The Tigers found themselves on a plane to Sacramento. What was a dream was now their reality, playing in the CIF State Championship game against the North Region Champion Branson Bulls.

Coach Ponchione believed in his team and told his girls, "Why not us? Why not Imperial?"

The Tigers came to play early tying the score at nine after one quarter of play, but the travel, the daily grind and emotions caught up with them.

"We got into the State Championship game and we had girls pretty beat up," Ponchione said. "We had a game every other day, five hours from home."

Branson held the Tigers scoreless in the second quarter while going on a 14-0 run.

Imperial lost 46-23 and despite the loss, there weren't many tears.

Coach Ponchione shared some powerful words, "I just told them that they earned it. This is what we worked for all year. We earned the trophy. They should be proud of themselves, their effort, everything they accomplished this year. They should just be proud and keep their heads up and we represented the Imperial Valley the best way we could.

The Tigers knew they made history and accomplished something no other girls basketball team from the Imperial Valley had ever done before.

"Not many girls can say that came from the Valley have been in this position," Morris said. "We've worked really hard and I feel we deserve it and we still got next year."

Coach Ponchione said there was obvious heartbreak because they wanted the win but he couldn't be more proud of them.

"To play the best in the state, to go on the journey we went on, obviously it's going to be with us forever," Coach Ponchione said.

The last team to make it this far was the Calipatria High boys team that lost in overtime in the 1988 state final.

After traveling over two thousand miles throughout their journey in the state playoffs, Imperial High School leaves a lasting legacy for the Imperial Valley.