The Santa Rosa Junior College women’s basketball team lost a hard-fought battle 58-53 against City College of San Francisco (CCSF) at home on Sunday.
Despite playing hard throughout the game, the Bear Cubs (3-2) came up short in the fourth quarter, almost making an epic comeback in the final few seconds against the Rams (2-1).
Coming off a 53-46 win against Shasta College on the first day of the Santa Rosa Crossover Tournament, the Bear Cubs looked confident and ready to take on the competition.
“We’ve performed well,” head coach Lacey Campbell said prior to tip-off. “Obviously that’s always the expectation to do better, but so far with what we’ve seen, we’ve performed pretty well. This is going to be a big test for us though.”
The Rams jumped out to a 20-16 lead in the first quarter, featuring two different 8-0 runs. SRJC’s Ivy Gonzalez cut to the basket and scored a layup off of an assist from Kaia Eubanks for the Bear Cubs’ first points of the game.
Moments later, Lindsey Arellano assisted Eubanks on a and-one layup, resulting in a momentum-swinging three-point play for the Bear Cubs. Eubanks continued to make tough, contested shots throughout the first quarter for the Bear Cubs.
Gonzalez got a steal and made a tough pass to Arellano for a contested corner-three, giving the Bear Cubs a 14-12 first quarter lead. The Rams finished the first quarter making an impressive deep three-pointer in the final seconds.
Heading into the second quarter with a four-point deficit, the Bear Cubs looked to build on their back and forth first quarter. Coaching adjustments for the Bear Cubs seemed to make a massive difference, at least for the beginning of the second quarter.
“We definitely work a lot on becoming a family, try to make us gel quickly, you know getting them for only two years, it’s really hard to make it that kind of family atmosphere,” Campbell said. “But we really focus on trying to make them a team right away. And then basketball-wise, we just, we want to lock in defensively and make it tough for the other team. So that’s kind of where we hang our hat, I guess.”
The Bear Cubs played amazing team defense on the first play of the second quarter, displaying active hands and almost poking the ball loose several times. The Bear Cubs also had great close-outs and shot contests, making it extremely difficult for CCSF to even get a shot off. The possession ended in a missed shot from the Rams, rebounded by SRJC’s Abigail Tacla.
As time quickly ran out in the fourth quarter, Eubanks went on to score the next four for the Bear Cubs, cutting the deficit to 56-50. Gonzalez then connected on a deep three-pointer to make it 56-53 with 10 seconds left to play.
SRJC’s Arellano stole the ball from CCSF and forced a late game turnover.
SRJC intentionally fouled, but CCSF’s Paris Kaea made both free throws to seal the 58-53 win for the Rams.
Eubanks finished with 21 points on 9-16 shooting from the field, along with nine rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
As a team, the Bear Cubs finished with 14 assists and 18 turnovers. They also finished with 36 rebounds, six steals and four blocks, while shooting 22-55 (40.0%) from the field, and 4-13 (30.8%) from three.
Lastly, the Bear Cubs shot 5-15 (33.3%) from the free throw line, which proved detrimental in such a close game. The Bear Cubs will look to improve their free-throw percentage, defensive rebounding, and limit turnovers as the season progresses. The Rams out-rebounded the Bear Cubs and committed far less turnovers, resulting in a five point victory for CCSF.
The next home game for the Bear Cubs’ women’s basketball team will be Friday, Nov. 22, at 6 p.m. against Laney College.
