San Joaquin Delta College women's basketball makes history as school's first state champions

San Joaquin Delta College is marking a milestone during Women's History Month, as its women's basketball team captured the program's first state championship.

The Mustangs won the California Community College Athletic Association (3C2A) title Sunday, defeating MiraCosta 78-71.

The victory caps a decades-long run under head coach Gina Johnson, who has led the program for 30 years. Johnson, who also teaches health and kinesiology at Delta, was hired in 1997 and has spent 34 years coaching at the community college level, including time at Foothill College in Los Altos.

Now, three decades later, she got to experience her first state title.

"It's just amazing," Johnson said. "We've been the runner-up before, but to be a champion, so many people from all over the community, all over the school, campus…people from everywhere are congratulatory... and it's been such a positive thing to happen for San Joaquin Delta College in general. I'm very proud of it all."

The Mustangs' title run came in a highly competitive field of more than 100 teams across Northern and Southern California.

In the championship game, Delta trailed by 20 points in the second quarter before mounting a comeback. Johnson said a key adjustment to a zone defense, something the team does not typically use, helped shift momentum, along with what she described as a gritty team effort.

"You have to believe," Johnson said. "And that's what we said all week. You have to believe when things don't go well. You just got to keep pushing, and I really believe that's what our girls did. They believed."

The championship banner will be unveiled Saturday at 5 p.m. during a campus celebration, where it will hang alongside the college's 1984 men's basketball state title banner. The event will include opportunities for photos with family and friends, followed by an alumni game.