At long last, Danelle Liles and the rest of the 1994 East Union girls basketball team have company.
The 2025-26 Lancers have become just the second group in program history to reach a Sac-Joaquin Section final after they knocked off previously-undefeated Lathrop 47-37 inside a jam-packed Dalben Center on Tuesday.
Jim Agostini has achieved much in his 19 years as head coach, and he’s in the middle of an impressive stretch in which East Union has claimed at least a piece of the last six Valley Oak League championships and made four SJS Division III semifinal appearances in five years.
This is the team that has broken through to the championship round, which takes place Saturday at Golden 1 Center. The second-seeded Lancers (26-5) will top off against No. 1 Placer (29-2) at 2 p.m.
“A lot of great players and teams have gone through here, setting the stage for these girls to take the torch and take it to the next level,” Agostini said.
It took a next-level effort for the Lancers to overcome and ultimately dominate a very young but very talented Lathrop team that had worn down its previous 30 opponents with blistering pace and pressure.
Although the Spartans (30-1) were able to force 20 turnovers, while committing 13 of their own, East Union turned the momentum with a 13-0 run in the third quarter. Previous to this burst, Lathrop’s Aisha Wiseman banked in a wing jumper to give Lathrop its largest lead of the game at 23-15.
That was the Spartans’ only field goal of the period, and Breanna Wiseman ended the scoreless drought by making the second of two free throws with 3:11 left.
East Union quickly responded with an and-1 conversion from Zyondupree Beasley, starting a streak of eight unanswered points. The senior forward netted 12 of her 17 points in the third quarter. She also grabbed 10 rebounds.
“The first half started off rough for everybody, but for me, especially,” Beasley said. I feel like I was just slowing down and overthinking a lot. I had a few turnovers.
“Coming out (of halftime), my team just gave me the opportunities (to score). I was open, and I took those shots because my team trusted me to take those shots. I’m just thankful for the team. This was a team effort.”
Shebra Rezaye led the Lancers with 21 points and six rebounds. She lived at the free-throw line throughout, particularly in the first half when East Union otherwise had trouble getting its footing offensively. In fact, the Lancers were limited to just three field goals in the first half. Rezaye made 8 of 10 free throws over that stretch, and 15 of 21 overall.
“We weren’t worried at all,” Rezaye said. “We knew what had to be done, and we went out there and executed. The coaches helped us out and reminded us of what we needed to do on the court. From there, it just went our way.
“The free throws were a big part of the game,” she added, “and I’m glad I was able to make my free throws. It’s something I practice a lot, because it comes down to free throws, at the of the day.”
And defense.
Fellow four-year senior Ava Barrera had a quiet night offensively with just four points, but she grabbed 10 rebounds while coming up with four blocked shots and two steals.
“We talked about it at halftime and said don’t panic, just get some defensive stops,” Agostini said. “Just stack up some defensive stops, and when we finish those sets, the momentum will change. The atmosphere will change back into your favor, and they just rode it.
“I love the way our team responded in the second half against a team that’s 30-0. We know they’re a really good team, we know they play pressure defense, but you know, we play defense, too. I haven’t said much about our defense this year, but our defense has been pretty good.”
Lathrop was anchored by four-year standout Shakara Porter, who registered 16 points, six rebounds and two steals. Breanna Wiseman, one of Lathrop’s three freshman starters, was limited to six points — all in the second half — but amassed 18 rebounds and five blocks. Junior guard Jaleiyah Ray contributed nine points and four assists but did not score.
“First half, they had three made baskets — all the rest of their points were free throws,” Lathrop coach Dwayne Davis said. “Came back out and kept putting them on the line. We didn’t play with discipline, and they made a very good run. … They took it to us in that third quarter. That’s when they had the upper hand. They switched the momentum, and it seemed like we were playing catch-up on everything.”
The good news for his Spartans is that their season is not yet over. By reaching the semifinals, they earned a berth to the California Interscholastic Federation Northern Regionals. They’ll make their first NorCal appearance since 2018, when Lathrop was the SJS Division IV runner-up.
Davis hopes his youthful team — which features five underclassmen in its normal rotation — can learn from the setback, but at this point in the season, he is not blaming inexperience for the loss.
“At the end of the year, you’re not a freshman anymore,” Davis said. “After 30-something games, you’ve played enough basketball. You don’t know everything, and you still have growth to do, but you just got outplayed when it counted the most.”
