With a remarkable 29-3 season, the Santa Rosa Junior College women’s basketball team cemented itself in the Bear Cubs’ history books as one of the best teams in the program’s history.
“You never know at the beginning of the season what the year will look like,” head coach Lacey Campbell said. “You hope that you have a group that will come together, improve and be connected on the floor. All of those things happened this year.”
Back in October, Campbell didn’t know what lay ahead for her team, and the players were also unsure how the season would fare.
“The beginning of the season was rough because we had several changes in the roster,” forward Sheriene Arikat said. “I really don’t think anyone was expecting to have the season we did.”
Behind the performance of Big Eight Conference MVP, forward Ashleigh Barr, three All-State honors and four All-Conference honors, the Bear Cubs made it to the Final Four of the California Community College Athletic Association women’s basketball tournament.
Before their Final Four game between Orange Coast College, the Bear Cubs knocked off three playoff-caliber teams in the opening tournament rounds with ease. First, an 81-39 blowout win over Napa Valley College proved the team was for real and alleviated any doubt the team could make a deep run in the playoffs.
After another blowout win over Laney College, Santa Rosa advanced to the Elite Eight and championship weekend at West Hills College in Lemoore, California.
On March 10, the Bear Cubs dismantled Mt. San Antonio College 65-48 in the quarterfinals of the CCCAA tournament. After Santa Rosa took down Mt. San Antonio, the matchup against powerhouse Orange Coast college was set in the Final Four.
In the fourth quarter against Orange Coast, the game bounced back and forth with each team possessing the lead for short periods of time. With 37 seconds left, Santa Rosa was up by one, but a free throw from Orange Coast’s Megan Mcintyre tied the game at 70 points a piece.
Both Santa Rosa and Orange Coast missed numerous opportunities to take the lead and win the game in the final seconds, however the game would head to overtime.
Halfway through overtime, Orange Coast took an early 76-71 lead. The five-point lead was too much for the Bear Cubs to overcome, and their historic season came to an end, one game short of the championship match.
“Everyone was extremely upset; after the buzzer went off, we all did a group hug, crying together,” guard Taylor Iacopi said. “We all care so much about each other so we knew that the loss was unfortunate, but the season was unforgettable.”
A month out from the game and the players haven’t fully recovered from the gut-wrenching loss.
“It still hurts, to be honest. I’ve rewatched that game so many times I’ve started remembering the play-by-play of the game, who scored, who turned it over and who fouled,” Arikat said.
Although the Bear Cubs’ historic season ended just short of the championship game, the ‘22-‘23 SRJC women’s basketball team went where only four other SRJC women’s basketball teams have gone before. Two past teams, 1988 and 2011, made it to the CCCAA championship game, while two past teams, 2010 and 2013, fell where the ‘23 Bear Cubs did in the Final Four of the CCCAA tournament.
The improbable Final Four playoff run is even more unimaginable when flashing back to the very beginning of the season.
“At the start we really never thought this season was going to be this successful. Many of us thought that we were going to be worse than last year,” Iacopi said. “There was never a thought about even going to the tournament or even making it to the playoffs.”
Despite a 29-3 record, the Bear Cubs had to overcome numerous hurdles to get there. Their first obstacle came in their only home loss against San Joaquin Delta. Multiple players were sidelined in the 62-53 loss with sickness and other injuries.
Twenty-seven days later, the Bear Cubs sported an opportunity for revenge. “We focused on that game as an important part of the season,” Campbell said. “Delta was a very talented team, and we had to play well to beat them.”
On San Joaquin Delta’s home floor, Santa Rosa battled a heartfelt four quarters and got exactly what they were looking for: revenge. A hard-fought 54-45 win gave the team a large boost of morale.
“There were a lot of emotions during and after that game. So to pull out a win and to prove that we were the dominant team meant the world to us,” Arikat said. “It just shows how despite a frustrating loss at home we were able to stay together and go right back at them on their home court.”
When the ball dropped at midnight and the year changed to 2023, a switch was flipped and the Bear Cubs stopped messing around.
From the start of 2023 to March 10, the Bear Cubs went unbeaten and rattled off 16 wins in a row. During the two-and-a-half month period, victory was imminent as the Bear Cubs pummeled their opponents by an average of 30.2 points per game. Their defense stifled opponents through the stretch as they out rebounded their opponents and didn’t allow more than 62 points in a game.
“I feel like our team was so together and genuinely cared about each other,” Iacopi said. “When it came to game time, we really all would lock in everytime and went into every game with confidence.”
Across the 16-game stretch, the highlight win came against Sacramento City College. Santa Rosa trounced Sacramento City 101-41, the most points the Bear Cubs scored in a single game this season. Sacramento City scored 16 points in the first quarter, before being clamped down the final three quarters. Santa Rosa couldn’t be stopped from the field and shot 44% on the game, while holding Sacramento City to only 20% from the field.
Forward Rose Nevin had her breakout performance against Sacramento City with a season-high 15 points and a season-high 17 rebounds.
“It was a goal to hit 100, and it was super exciting to reach that,” Nevin said. “When we work together, we are hard to beat. We have top-tier team chemistry.”
Despite winning by large margins left and right, the Bear Cubs never let up in practice. “Practices stayed extremely difficult, and we really focused on the things we needed to work on even if we beat a team by over 20 points,” Iacopi said. “We never stayed comfortable with where we were.”
It would’ve been the easy way out to take things light in practice, but that was against coach Campbell’s mentality and the mentality she wanted to instill into her team.
“We started holding each other accountable and it became clear that no matter how much we won by, we were going to work and use everyday in practice as if we had never won a game,” Arikat said.
Once it hit the second half of the season, you would think the team would start to ramp down practices and take things easier going into games, but it was the complete opposite.
“Sunday practices were brutal because we would go up and down for almost the full practice and then go out and lift,” Arikat said. “It was a good brutal though because we learned how to play through fatigue while continuing to pick each other up.”
Resilience and family are two words that describe the 2022-23 SRJC women’s basketball team.
“This team really put a mark on the program and created a strong message that you can win by playing together and being a family,” Campbell said. “They are great people who came together and bonded. This goes beyond basketball. They have created a bond for life.”
Nevin added, “We had great skill, but we had fun and loved being with each other. It for sure was the most memorable season of our lives.”
From zero expectations with no playoff dream in mind at the beginning of the season, to cementing themselves as one of the best teams in program history, the Bear Cubs had a season to remember and left an unforgettable legacy.
“She [Campbell] had said many times that she never had a team this close,” Iacopi said. “It really showed throughout the season and our team is genuinely a family. Of course we all wish the outcome was different, but we would never change anything that happened.”
This group set a precedent for the future of the program and what a team can and should be.
“We have proven despite our size, our program’s history and all our roster changes you can be successful if you have the right coaches pushing you and a family to fight for,” Arikat said. Campbell hopes the success of this year’s team influences players to join the program and repeat their historic season. “We are always wanting the best kids to come to the program. Hopefully, players see our success and they are inspired to join us,” Campbell said.
The Bear Cubs are on the right track to bring in new players. Maya Salas, a sharp-shooting guard from Analy is the first high school player to commit to Santa Rosa Junior College to play basketball next season for the Bear Cubs.
For the Big Eight Conference MVP and first team All-State recipient, Ashleigh Barr, her future is bright as she will play basketball at Chico State next year.
