SRJC 39, Sacramento City College 62
The Bear Cubs (8-10, 4-5) hosted the #6 team in the North, the Panthers (15-7, 6-3) of Sacramento City College. The Panthers sprinted out to a 16-3 lead, as they made all seven of their shots, including two 3-pointers in the opening 4:25 of the contest. The Bear Cubs, meanwhile, missed their first four shots before Maiya Flores drained a 3-pointer at the 6:18 mark. After one missed field goal attempt, Flores and Jasmine Henderson hit back-to-back 3-pointers to close the gap to 9-16. Flores' third 3-pointer without a miss and one of two free throws got the Bear Cubs to 13-16 with 1:54 left. Johanna Lauderdale sank her second 3-pointer of the quarter 10 seconds later, and Flores, with her foot on the arc, sank the field goal with 1:29 remaining to complete the scoring, as the period ended with the Panthers in front 19-15.
The Panthers scored inside on their first possession of the second period. DJ Hayes drew a shooting foul 14 seconds later and made both free throws. Lauderdale then swished three 3-pointers in a row before Lizeth Zavala tallied the Bear Cubs' first field goal on a baseline inbounds play with 6:15 on the clock. Lizeth Zavala banked in a fast break layup with 4:23 left, after intercepting a pass just below the Panthers' free throw line and dribbling past defenders along the way, making the score 21-30. The Panthers went on a 10-0 run, including two 3-pointers, until Britta Irvine pulled up and sank a 15-footer with 33 seconds remaining. The Panthers added one more field goal to go into halftime with a 42-23 lead.
It took the Panthers nearly a minute and a half to score the first two points of the third quarter. Britta Irvine pulled up and hit a 14-footer with 7:42 on the clock, and Jasmine Henderson made an acrobatic fast break layup against pressure the next time down. The Panthers put together another 10-0 run during the next three minutes. Henderson's 3-pointer at the 4:15 mark completed the Bear Cubs' scoring. The Panthers added two free throws with 1:12 left to widen their lead to 56-30 by the end of the period.
The Panthers started the fourth quarter with the ball and within 10 seconds sank a field goal. Lizeth Zavala put in two free throws 49 seconds later. Neither team scored again until Jasmine Henderson banked in a contested layup with 4:28 on the clock. About a minute later DJ Hayes completed a 3-point play after scoring on a drive. The Panthers got open inside for a short bank shot 19 seconds after that, and added a 10-footer with 30 seconds left. Hayes tossed in a 6-footer on a drive with 21 seconds remaining to finish off the scoring. The Panthers prevailed by a final score of 62-39.
After a sizzling start, the Panthers ended the first half having made 17 out of 31 shots (55%), including 8 3-pointers, 6 of which were made by Johanna Lauderdale. The Bear Cubs started slowly but ended up making 5 out of 13 shots (38%), including 4 3-pointers in the first quarter. Unfortunately, the Bear Cubs were only able to make 9 out of 42 shots (21%) during the remaining three quarters. Lauderdale led all scorers with 20 points, all coming in the first half.
Maiya Flores, who made all of her first quarter attempts, finished with 12 points, including 3 3-pointers, all in the opening period. Jasmine Henderson sank two 3-pointers and two tough layups for 10 points. DJ Hayes and Lizeth Zavala added hustle off the bench and contributed 7 and 6 points, respectively. Britta Irvine's 4 points completed the scoring. Irvine was the top rebounder with 6. Flores led in assists with 4.