“We’re overdue on a championship,” guard Kennedi Cooper said.
The women’s basketball team came up big at the College of the Sequoias Tournament this past weekend.
The team went 3-1 with its only loss coming from Mt. San Antonio with the final score being 60-47.
Coach Trisha Raniewicz said, “Janel Oliver, Miranda Valentin, Allyson O’Brien and Chyann Richards really brought effort.”
Game 1
The team’s first game of this weekend was Thursday against Solano, which the women were victorious 75-37.
The women had 48 rebounds in that game alone.
Coach Raniewicz said, “That was our greatest defensive performance.”
With 12 steals and 25 points off turnovers, the defense was a main priority for the team in this game.
Holding it’s opponent to only 37 points the team had this game under control.
Another key to victory in this was the bench, which scored 47 points, scoring more than half of it’s total points.
Coming off the bench was Miranda Valentin with 12 points and Allyson O’Brien with 10 points of her own.
“I didn’t want to start the tournament off with a loss, and I just tried to do my part as a teammate,” Valentin said.
Game 2
The women’s lone loss came from Mt. San Antonio on Friday.
The ladies took the lead in the first quarter, 12-8, but quickly lost it by halftime. They went into the locker room down 22-21.
The Falcons never seemed to regain the lead after that.
Foul trouble was an important key in this game as well, “We had to change the rotation, that game really came down to defensive stops,” Coach Raniewicz said.
One noticeable key was that none of the women scored in double digits. Sophomore guards Verenice Gomez and Kennedi Cooper led the way with nine points a piece.
Game 3
The ladies responded by snagging another win the next day against the hosting College of the Sequoias.
The game did not start out the way the women wanted it to with the halftime score being 27-18.
The defense came through as well with 21 steals and 27 points off turnovers.
At the end of the third quarter, the Falcons were still down 38-33, but with the help of the bench they closed out the game by the final score of 47-42.
The comeback win would not have been complete without the help of the bench.
Coach Raniewicz said of that game, “I’m always saying whatever we get this season, we’re going to earn it.”
The bench put together 21 points, eight of those were from guard Janel Oliver and 10 of the 30 rebounds came from Miranda Valentin as well, five coming on the offensive end.
“I didn’t want the other team to get the ball, no second chance shots,” Valentin said.
Game 4
In the final game of the tournament, the ladies came up with another win against Pasadena City College on Sunday.
It was a grind out game, after the first quarter both teams were tied at 14 points each.
The team had 22 turnovers and only one second chance point.
During the second quarter, the women regained the lead and never let it go.
The women ended the game at 50-46, with 25 points coming from the bench.
Forward Allyson O’Brien had 14 points, center Ashley Flores scored eight points and guard Sydney Lopez added 11 points.
Starting guard Kennedi Cooper suffered a concussion in the early minutes of the third quarter.
To summarize the team’s weekend Coach Raniewicz said, “It’s [been] a long weekend.”
The team now looks ahead to its next tournament, which is in two weeks, Dec. 18-20, at the West Hills Tournament.
