Women's Basketball: Solid defense leads Bear Cub to victory

#0 Destiny Grayer playing defense
#0 Destiny Grayer playing defense

SRJC 72, Modesto Junior College 55

             Tuesday evening the Bear Cubs (5-9, 1-3) hosted the Pirates (7-7, 0-4) of Modesto Junior College. The Pirates made the first basket of the game after just 42 seconds of play. The Bear Cubs turned the ball over on their opening two possessions before Kylie Oden made their first shot--a 3-pointer at the 8:01 mark. Neither team scored again until Jenny Eggers drew a shooting foul with 5:25 on the clock and made just the first free throw. The next trip down, she sank a shot from the low post. With 3:10 left Angel Bernardi drew a foul and made only the second free throw for a 7-2 lead. The Pirates finally made their second basket with 1:47 remaining. Madeline Strom came off the bench sank her first shot attempt with 1:33 to go. The next time down she grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled on the shot. She made both free throws. The Pirates added a single free throw with 19.3 seconds left, and Angel Bernardi drained a baseline 3-pointer at the buzzer for a 14-5 lead.

            The Pirates scored first to start the second quarter. Destiny Grayer drew a foul on a drive and made one free throw. The Pirates answered with a field goal, and then Grayer swished a 3-pointer. The Pirates hit their own 3-pointer to get to 12-18. Madeline Strom made two free throws followed by a Pirates' field goal. Gaby Roldan dropped in a 3-pointer from the right side and less than a minute later, the Pirates sank a 3-pointer. Kylie Oden's 3-pointer with 4:38 on the clock was answered by another Pirates' 3-pointer 24 seconds later. The Bear Cubs didn't score again until Cammie Barsuglia made one free throw with 1:34 left. The Pirates made their last basket with 33.2 second remaining, and Jenny Eggers' field goal 13 seconds later made the score 30-24 at halftime.

            Jenny Eggers and Kylie Oden sank the Bear Cubs' first two shots of the third quarter, prompting the Modesto coach to call a timeout. When play resumed the Pirates proceeded to make an 8-footer. Following a single missed shot, Jenny Eggers scored from the post and Kylie Oden hit a 3-pointer for a 40-30 lead with 6:10 on the clock. A 3-pointer by the Pirates with 5:09 left cut their deficit to 33-41. Mireya Lopez scored on an inbounds play, and after a Pirates miss, finished a fast break layup after catching a long pass from Destiny Grayer. Kylie Oden's 3-pointer with 3:51 remaining gave the Bear Cubs a 48-33 lead. Cammie Barsuglia's 3-pointer with 45 seconds to go made the score 55-37. Jenny Eggers scored from the post with 11.6 seconds to go, and the Pirates drew a shooting foul with 0.2 seconds to play. She made the first but missed the second to end the quarter with the Bear Cubs in front 57-38.

            The Pirates drew a shooting foul on the first play of the fourth quarter and made both free throws. They scored on a drive on their next possession. After missing their first four shots of the quarter, Mireya Lopez finally banked in a shot for the Bear Cubs with 7:06 on the clock. The next time down Britta Irvine missed a 5-footer but grabbed her own rebound, dribbled away from the hoop, and maneuvered back around defenders to bank in a reverse layup for a 61-44 lead. The Pirates made three free throws and a 3-pointer before Kylie Oden scored on a drive with 3:34 left. Jenny Eggers scored inside, and after Destiny Grayer made one free throw on each of two separate trips to the line, the lead was 67-50 with 1:30 remaining. The Pirates scored on a drive. Then Jenny Eggers grabbed an offensive rebound and banked in the putback. The Pirates' final basket was a 3-pointer with 38.3 seconds to go. Cammie Barsuglia ended the scoring with a 3-pointer with 24.5 seconds to play to make the final score 72-55.

            The Bear Cubs only outscored the Pirates in two of the four quarters, but their big 27-14 difference in the third quarter helped propel them to the win.

            Jenny Eggers, who sat out a lot due to foul trouble, made 7 out of 9 field goal attempts and 3 out of 4 free throws to finish with 17 points. Kylie Oden sank four 3-pointers on her way to notching her fourth double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Madeline Strom and Cammie Barsuglia recorded season highs of 9 and 7 points, respectively. Destiny Grayer added 7 points, Mireya Lopez 6, Angel Bernardi 5, Gaby Roldan 3, and Britta Irvine on her return to action after recovering from a concussion contributed 2 points and 6 rebounds. Destiny Grayer passed for a season high 8 assists and also made 5 steals.