Santa Rosa Junior College Women’s basketball defended its den against Sacramento City Friday night with a 53-45 win.

After the Bear Cubs won the tip, the game started off with back to back turnovers by SRJC. The Bear Cubs switched to a full-court press for the last two minutes of the first quarter. The pressure got to the Panthers, and with seconds left SRJC’s Jenny Eggers put up a buzzer-beating layup. The Bear Cubs ended the first quarter with a 21-14 lead.

As the second quarter took off it remained a close game as both teams began demonstrating much more physical play.

Meghan Case of Sacramento City College hit a three with 1:14 left in the first half, tying the score at 26-26.

With only 30 seconds left in the half, the Bear Cubs scrambled to get an open shot. Miss, offensive rebound, miss, offensive rebound. On the second offensive rebound in a row by Tiffany Salinas, she put in a layup, breaking the tie with a score of 28-26 to end the half. With both teams struggling to get into its rhythm, it was certainly anybody’s game.

Salinas and Sadie Irvine lead the team in points at the end of the first half, both with six.

The Bear Cubs kicked off the third quarter with two offensive rebounds by Salinas, leading to a three by Irvine.

As the third quarter got into its last two minutes, the home crowd began to erupt with shouts and screams as the score began to break away with a 40-31 Bear Cubs lead to finish the third.

With 5:30 left in the fourth, the Bear Cubs got sloppy with its defense and fans got anxious. The score stood at 41-38.

Two minutes later the Bear Cubs took control of the game, and the lead grew to 47-39.

SRJC’s league record improved to 2-4 with the victory. Sacramento City came out ready to play with only six players on their roster and kept it a close game. But the Bear Cubs kept the lead the entire game, with the exception of one lead change in the first quarter.

The Bear Cubs victory was lead by Salinas, who finished with 11 points and Irvine who finished with 17.