City College Women’s basketball finished its season off strong by beating Allan Hancock College 61-53 at the last home game of the season Wednesday night.

The Vaqueros were down 11-4 during the first five minutes before changing the direction of the game. Communication and teamwork helped them get back on track.

Starting sophomore Mizhrua Bautista (No. 3) made the first basket from either team in the first two minutes of the game.

“I was just trying to get my team going and build up the synergy and momentum of the game so we could have an exciting and fast start,” Bautista said.

“Today’s game was a team effort,” Andrea Morales (No.15) said. “We had teammates that really stepped up.”

Once the Vaqueros started scoring, there was no stopping them. They held the lead for nearly the entire game. During the last second of the first half sophomore Darla Morales (No. 22), twin sister of Andrea Morales, nailed a buzzer-beater for City College.

“That was a dream come true,” Darla said. “I had so much adrenaline and everything was pumping.”

The Vaqueros have been competing since their season started in early November. They have won 10 games and lost 16. The team started out slowly but made a lot of improvement, winning a majority of their games in the second half of the season.

“We’ve had our ups and downs, but we have improved so much from the beginning to now,” Morales said.

Head coach Sandrine Krul instills in her team to communicate, work through their mistakes and uplift one another throughout the season.

“I love my team. They’ve been working really hard this season. I’m so proud of them,” Krul said.

The Vaqueros spend innumerable hours training in the gym each season. They stay aggressive and push each other each day.

“Blood, sweat and tears until the very end,” Bautista said.

During the second half of the game the Vaqueros had 10 fouls, as well as Allan Hancock. The Vaqueros played strong defense against a very strong team. They scored 11 points in the last five minutes of the game.

City College and Allan Hancock both had a large crowd turnout cheering throughout the entire game. The Vaqueros cheerleaders were also chanting to hold strong defense.

City College players were running off to their parents for hugs and encouragement after the game ended before heading off to the locker rooms as a team.

The Vaqueros play their last game of the season Saturday night at L.A Pierce. They plan to trust their training in order to win the next game.

“Next game we’re just going to play hard and finish off the season strong,” said Darla Morales.