SRJC 84, Mission College 48
The Bear Cubs (18-10) opened post-season play as the #10 seed in the first round of the State NorCal Playoffs by hosting #23 seed Mission College Saints (18-10) from the Coast-South Conference. Reese Searcy took the first shot of the contest and swished the 3-pointer. About a minute later Addy Munoz tossed in the Saints' first basket from just below the free throw line. Alli Dioli's 3-pointer put the Saints in front 5-3. Lucca Lowenberg's drive and spin move tied the score. The Saints made three shots in a row—Lali Montesino's field goal, Dioli's 3-pointer, and Montesino's 15-footer—while the Bear Cubs only added one point on Maycee Hunter's free throw, to jump out in front 12-6 with 5:36 on the clock. The Bear Cubs responded with a 9-0 run comprised of two free throws by Meredith Gilbertson, Maycee Hunter's steal and layup, Lucca Lowenberg's 3-pointer, and Gilbertson's drive, to edge ahead 15-12. After Montesino sank a field goal, Lowenberg banked in a fast break layup off of Lindsey Arellano's thread-the-needle 35-foot pass, and then Praise Nigimar made an assist pass from the high post to Gilbertson next to the hoop for a 19-14 lead at the 2:40 mark. Nine seconds later Montesino scored again. With 1:58 left Searcy was fouled on a drive and made both free throws. After a Saints' miss, she caught Nigimar's outlet pass and drove the ball the rest of the way past defenders to score the layup. A few seconds later Searcy made a steal then passed ahead to Lowenberg, who drained the 3-pointer for a 26-16 lead with 1:25 remaining. Montesino and Dioli each sank one more field goal to close the gap to 20-26 by the end of the quarter.
Hannah Webb started the second quarter the same way Reese Searcy started the game, by taking the Bear Cubs' first shot and swishing the 3-pointer. Alli Dioli hit her third 3-pointer with 6:51 on the clock, making their deficit 23-29. During the next six minutes the Bear Cubs held the Saints scoreless, while they only made four out of 12 shots—Reese Searcy's drive, Ivy Gonzalez's fast break layup off of Meredith Gilbertson's pass, Lucca Lowenberg's drive, and Ivy Gonzalez's 1-footer off of Lowenberg's assist following Gilbertson's steal—to jump out to a 37-23 advantage. Lali Montesino made a basket with 35 seconds left, and 13 seconds later Gonzalez scored on a low post move. Montesino added one point on a free throw with 19 seconds remaining. Lowenberg drained a 3-pointer two seconds before the buzzer sounded, bringing the half to an end with the Bear Cubs ahead 42-26.
The Bear Cubs started the third quarter with the ball and Meredith Gilbertson scored on a low post move. Ciana Mayorquin put in her first field goal 20 seconds after that. The Bear Cubs scored 13 unanswered points—Lucca Lowenberg's 3-pointer, Ivy Gonzalez's 3-pointer, Meredith Gilbertson's 3-point play, Ivy Gonzalez's putback, and her 2-footer after grabbing the offensive rebound and taking a couple of dribbles to get around a defender—to widen their lead to 57-28 with 4:43 on the clock. Lali Montesino made the Saints' last basket of the period 14 seconds later. The Bear Cubs didn't score again until Praise Nigimar drained a 3-pointer off of Hannah Webb's assist with 1:09 left. Mayorquin tallied the last point of the period on one out of two free throws with 38 seconds remaining, making the Bear Cubs' lead 60-31.
The Bear Cubs started the fourth quarter with the ball, and this time JJ Martinez was the one to sink a 3-pointer. Lali Montesino took the Saints' first shot and made the 2-pointer. The Bear Cubs put together a 9-0 run on JJ Martinez's drive, Meredith Gilbertson's drive from the high post, Maya Salas' 3-pointer, and Lucca Lowenberg's offensive rebound and subsequent 6-footer at the 6:51 mark. The Saints scored the next five points on Ciana Mayorquin's 15-footer and Amanda Atayde's 3-pointer. Then the Bear Cubs added four points on Cece Solano's 16-footer and JJ Martinez's two free throws with 5:17 on the clock. Atayde sank her second 3-pointer two minutes later. Solano banked in a putback and then Mayorquin hit a 3-pointer with 2:34 left. Twenty-one seconds later Hannah Webb hit a 20-footer and then Mayorquin a field goal. Solano banked in another putback, and Praise Nigimar completed the Bear Cubs' scoring with a pair of free throws with 1:03 to go. Mayorquin put in one more basket to make the final score 84-48.
The Saints made 9 out of 18 shots (50%) in the first quarter, but couldn't maintain that accuracy against the Bear Cubs' defense, as they made only 4 out of 30 shots (13%) in the second and third quarters. The Bear Cubs played solid team defense and pushed the ball after nearly every defensive rebound. Offensively they made 9 out of 17 shots (53%) in the first quarter and 23 out of 55 (42%) after that. Lali Montesino, who came into the game averaging 20.6 ppg, led her team with 21. Alli Dioli had been averaging 20.0 ppg and was held to 11 points.
Lucca Lowenberg led the Bear Cubs with 20 points, including four 3-pointers. Ivy Gonzalez registered her ninth double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Meredith Gilbertson also scored 13 points. Reese Searcy added 9 points, JJ Martinez 7, Cece Solano 6, Praise Nigimar and Hannah Webb 5 each, Maya Salas and Maycee Hunter 3 each. Lucca Lowenberg passed for 4 assists and made 4 steals.