SRJC 61, Sacramento City College 56
Due to the school holiday on Friday the 13th for the Presidents' Day 4-day weekend, all Big 8 games were played on Thursday, just two days after the previous conference game. The Bear Cubs (20-5, 10-3) hosted the Sacramento City College Panthers (13-13, 7-7). To start the contest, Jordan Washington tipped the ball to Elle Picard, who passed ahead to a sprinting Kaia Eubanks for the layup within six seconds. Noelle Potratz tied the score on the Panthers' first time with the ball. The Bear Cubs scored six unanswered points on Caitlin Baldwin's 3-pointer, Abby Tacla's 6-footer off of Baldwin's assist, and one free throw by Jordan Washington at the 7:50 mark. Teyanna Burrell drained a corner 3-pointer 23 seconds later. Elle Picard swished a 3-pointer with 5:49 on the clock for an 11-5 advantage. Over two minutes after that Karli Grier hit a shot from inside the key. During the remaining 3:21 the Panthers added five points on Gier's 3-point play and Sierra Tuliau's layup. Meanwhile the Bear Cubs tallied nine points on Sydney Martin's drive, one free throw by Hailey Webb, Martin's left-handed drive, Kaia Eubanks' fast break layup after catching Webb's long pass, and two free throws by Washington for a 20-12 lead.
The Panthers scored the first two points of the second quarter on Rheanna Nobleza's pair of free throws. The Bear Cubs missed their first four shots before Kaia Eubanks grabbed a long offensive rebound and put in the baseline 7-footer. The next time down Jordan Washington drove from the corner around defenders to bank in the layup. Sierra Tuliau sank a shot from beyond the arc at the 6:23 mark. Over a minute later Shasta Vlasak scored on a drive. Teyanna Burrell drained a 3-pointer, and then Madyson Carson cut under the basket, caught the pass from Vlasak, and tossed in the ball over her head. Following a Panther miss, Nobleza intercepted a Bear Cub outlet pass near her basket and made her layup. Hailey Webb's 3-pointer with 3:59 on the clock made the Bear Cubs' lead 31-22. The Panthers put together a 6-0 run during the next 71 seconds on Madeline Young's drive, and a field goal each by Noelle Potratz and Tuliau to close the gap to 28-31. With 2:35 on the clock Jordan Washington banked in a 1-footer after catching Caitlin Baldwin's lob pass over the defender. Karli Grier completed a 3-point play on a layup with 1:13 left. Eubanks hit a 14-footer off of Abby Tacla's assist with 18 seconds remaining to make the Bear Cubs' halftime lead 35-31.
The Panthers started the third quarter with two field goals and a 3-pointer to take a 38-35 lead at the 8:02 mark. Jordan Washington scored the Bear Cubs' first two points on free throws 74 seconds later. After missing their first eight shots, Hattie Piper swished a 3-pointer with 6:01 on the clock to put the Bear Cubs in front 40-38. The Bear Cubs scored the next five points on Elle Picard's 3-pointer and Sydney Martin's 16-footer with 2:41 left to stretch their lead to 45-38. With 21 seconds remaining Karli Grier sank a field goal. Washington drew a shooting foul with 7 seconds to go and put in both free throws. Even though the Bear Cubs tried to apply trapping pressure, the Panthers got the ball to a wide-open Sierra Tuliau who drained the 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the period with the Bear Cubs still ahead by four points at 47-43.
The Panthers started the fourth quarter with the ball, and Charlize Miles tossed in a 5-footer over a shorter defender. On the Bear Cubs' first turn with the ball, Kaia Eubanks drew a shooting foul and made just the second free throw. Seven seconds later Karlie Grier was fouled on a shot, and she too made just the second free throw to close their deficit to 46-48. Abby Tacla's 4-foot floater got the lead back to four points at the 9:02 mark. Fourteen seconds later Grier hit a shot from the middle of the key. Jordan Washington scored the next four points on two free throws and a 2-footer off of Elle Picard's assist and with 6:29 on the clock. After Madeline Young made two free throws, Picard swished a 3-pointer with 4:59 left for a 57-50 margin. Two minutes after Young had made her two free throws, Rheanna Nobleza sank only one of hers to get to 51-57. The Bear Cubs went to the free throw line twice but only came away with one made free throw each by Kaia Eubanks and Jordan Washington. With the Bear Cubs over the foul limit, Young was fouled in the back court and then put in two free throws to close to 53-59 with 1:13 remaining. The Panthers were forced to foul, so Elle Picard went to the free throw line with 37 seconds to go but only made the second free throw. With 17 seconds remaining Sierra Tuliau drained her third 3-pointer. The Bear Cubs inbounded the ball, and Elle Picard was fouled. She went back to the free throw line and again made only the second free throw. The Panthers were out of timeouts and their 35-foot shot missed everything and went out of bounds. The Bear Cubs passed the ball in and hung on to it until the final buzzer sounded on their 61-56 victory.
Both teams made 14 2-pointers and 6 3-pointers. The Bear Cubs only made 15 out of 22 free throws (68%), but it was enough to pull out the win, as the Panthers only shot 14 free throws, making 10 of them (71%). The Panthers were overly physical in double-teaming Jordan Washington all night. She only got off nine shots, most under duress, and made three of them. However, she went to the free throw line six times and made 10 out of 12. Sierra Tuliau, who came into the game averaging 22 points per game in Big 8 play, was held to 13 by the Bear Cub defenders. Karli Grier, a quick guard, came off the bench to also score 13 points.
Three Bear Cubs reached double figures in scoring: Jordan Washington with 16, Elle Picard 11, and Kaia Eubanks 10. Sydney Martin added 6 points, Abby Tacla and Hailey Webb 4 each, Caitlin Baldwin and Hattie Piper 3 each, and Shasta Vlasak and Madyson Carson 2 each. Elle Picard was the top rebounder with 7. Caitlin Baldwin led in assists with 4. Elle Picard and Kaia Eubanks each made 4 steals.