The City College women’s basketball team closed out their regular season with a 58-53 win over the Los Angeles Pierce Brahmas Saturday, Feb. 20, at the Sports Pavilion.
The Lady Vaqueros came close to ending the season with a loss in front of their home crowd, but a strongly balanced team performance in the second half resulted in a win.
The young team with 12 freshmen put it all together in the fourth quarter which led them to collect a victory. A large crowd ignited with energy as time expired in the game that was dedicated to cancer awareness.
“It was a great win and a great way to end it,” said freshman guard Christina Mattis. “At home, on a great note, with a great crowd.”
The outcome of this game leaves the Lady Vaqueros with a 15-13 overall record and a 6-6 conference record on the season, which places them in third place in the Western State Conference’s North division behind Ventura and Oxnard.
The Lady Vaqueros’ higher winning percentage put them ahead of Moorpark who also finished the season 6-6 in the WSC North, but does not qualify them for playoffs.
“For a team with 13 freshmen to go 6-6 in a tough conference, I couldn’t ask for anything more,” said head coach Sandrine Krul.
Despite being knocked out of the playoffs, the players are hungry for next year as many of the young hoopers will be returning with experience and higher expectations.
“This season we were looked at a somewhat of an underdog, but next year we’re going to come out on top, get to the top and stay on top,” said Mattis. “We have a point to prove next year, santa barbara is coming.”
Freshmen forward Jocelin Petatan, who tallied up 12 points and nine rebounds, shared the same mindset as Mattis, who recorded nine points and six rebounds.
“Next year we are going to have a very high standard,” she said. “We’re going to clean everything up and come back a stronger team.”
In addition to Petatan and Mattis stats, freshman forward Destinee King contributed 13 points and 18 rebounds. Together the trio accounted for over half of the team’s total offense.
Collective team ball movement on offense for City College was a key attribute in securing the win, said Krul.
“Tonight, balanced play was what got us the win,” she said.
After a tough second and third quarter which saw the Brahmas outscore the City College 28-14. City College made some offensive adjustments take the lead midway through the fourth quarter.
“We changed our offense,” Krul said. “They went into a zone defense so we knew we had to attack the middle.”
King attributed her performance to her mental adjustments after she saw the game slipping away.
“Personally, I missed a lot of shots I usually make and I started bringing myself down,” she said. “I had to get out of my own head and that’s what I did the second half.”
After a year composed of a lot of teaching and learning as coach Krul described, the team soaked in the bittersweet moment and showed high optimism for next year’s season.
