The women’s basketball team bounced back from a three-game losing streak Saturday to crush L.A. Pierce College, 79-50.
“When you lose three games in a row, you have to go back to the basics,” said head coach Sandrine Krul.
The team needed to focus on what worked before the three loses, Krul said, “and that’s everyone producing.”
The Vaqueros came together as a team after the losses against top-ranked Ventura, Moorpark and Cuesta colleges to dominate a smaller and less athletic Pierce.
“The three games before last night ended up in a negative outcome because we just weren’t meshing as a team,” said freshmen center Sara Rudorfer.
“The game against Ventura was a hard-fought one, and I can honestly say that we worked together for that game,” Rudorfer added. “But after we lost [to Ventura] it just seemed like the team’s morale was down.”
Point guard Talia Joyce led with 13 points in the fast paced game against Pierce. Guard Kayla Briers added five points, six assists and seven boards.
“We played all 15 players tonight and that was huge for us,” Krul said.
Thirteen of the 15 players scored. The Vaqs leading scorer, Jessica Romero, didn’t score until the second half.
“Jessica didn’t score a lot in the second half,” Krul said. “She didn’t play a lot in the second half but others stepped up.”
The first half started off with Pierce College pressuring full court causing the Brahmas to get into early foul trouble.
“What really worked well for us was that we all contributed and worked together to produce more on both the offensive and defensive end,” said freshmen guard Brenna Flynn.
“We had great team chemistry which led us to a big win” Flynn said. “Our hard work is paying off and I think it’ll show in our next game against Hancock.”
The Vaqueros take on Allan Hancock College today at Hancock in search of playoff glory. The young team advances their record to 23-8 overall and 6-4 in the Western State Conference.
“We had a few bad games and we just realized that it’s coming to the close of our great season,” said Rudorfer. “We don’t want to go out with bad memories for the end of our season.”
