The Santa Rosa Junior College women’s basketball team (17-12) defeated the College of the Redwoods Corsairs 54-46 on Wednesday to move on to the second round of NorCal regional playoffs.
Entering playoffs as the No. 13 seed, head coach Lacey Campbell reflected on the team’s efforts during practice leading up to the first round.
“We had two really good days of practice,” Campbell said. “[We] were excited about the chance to play.”
Sophomore guard Ivy Gonzalez kicked things off for SRJC by scoring the first six points in the first four minutes. The Corsairs finally got on the board with 5:41 on the clock, after freshman forward Aniah Gaither found an opening and scored in the paint.
The Bear Cubs and Corsairs traded baskets until SRJC freshman guard Hailey Webb sank a three, making it 9-2 with 2:41 left on the clock.
After a mid-range jumper from Bear Cubs freshman Abigail Tacla followed by an open three from Gonzalez, Corsairs freshman guard Nora Talty hit a three to beat the buzzer, ending the first quarter with the Bear Cubs up 14-5.
According to Gonzalez, the team felt energized entering Wednesday’s game.
“Going into tonight’s game, I felt ready and prepared,” Gonzalez said. “The fact that we had two really good practices going into today and that our conference is the best in California preps us well for playoffs because of how much of a dog fight every game is.”
Gonzalez recorded a double-double with 20 points and 14 rebounds.
The Corsairs showed more fight in the second quarter. Corsairs sophomore guard Kyla Albee made a three-pointer with under eight minutes on the clock to get points on the board, quickly answered by Bear Cubs freshman forward Sydney Martin scoring on a reverse lay-in.
Webb knocked down a three to increase the Bear Cubs lead to 25-16 going into halftime.
Gaither scored two off of a putback to start the second half for the Corsairs, immediately answered by a layup from Bear Cubs sophomore guard Lindsey Arellano, making the score 27-18 with just under 10 minutes left in the third.
The Corsairs slowly closed the gap, outscoring the Bear Cubs 14-12 in the third quarter.
Gonzalez scored two off of a putback before Albee hit a dagger three to end the third with SRJC hanging on to the lead, 37-30.
The fourth quarter was the highest scoring for both teams with the Corsairs scoring 16 points to SRJC’s 17 in the fourth.
The Corsairs put five points up on the board before Baldwin put the Bear Cubs on the board after she drove the ball down the court for a reverse shot over her head from the left side with over eight minutes left in the quarter.
The Corsairs inched closer and closer to tying the game when a three-pointer from Albee brought the Redwoods within one point of the Bear Cubs in the fourth, 39-38.
The Bear Cubs snatched the momentum back and put down six straight points from Baldwin, Eubanks and sophomore forward Cece Solano with over four minutes left, making the score 45-38.
After Albee went 1-for-2 from the free throw line, Webb hit a three to further the lead, 48-39.
The Corsairs were unlucky from the free throw line in the fourth, going 1-for-8 from the stripe. Albee put up four more points with under a minute left to go before the Corsairs were forced to Eubanks, who went 2-for-2 from the line.
Albee banked in another three before a shooting foul on Gonzalez, who went 2-for-2, ended the first round of playoffs and gave SRJC a 54-46 win.
Eubanks spoke about the strong offense in the first-round win.
“The most important thing for our team to work on is our offense against teams that play zone defense,” Eubanks said. “Redwood played us in zone and we struggled with it a little bit. We expect that San Jose will play us that way too so we are focusing on improving that aspect of our offense in practice.”
The Bear Cubs will travel to San Jose City College (26-2) where they will face the No. 4 seed Jaguars at 5:30 p.m. on March 1.
