SRJC 55, Diablo Valley College 77
The Bear Cubs started the second quarter with the ball and Tiffany Salinas drew a shooting foul. She made one free throw. It took the Vikings 90 more seconds to score their first bucket, a 3-pointer. After an opening miss, the Bear Cubs made four shots in a row, beginning with Zaina Depina's layup past defenders. She sank her next shot, La Donna Saint Louis completed a 3-point play on a drive, and Jenny Eggers finished the press break with a 1-footer with 5:18 on the clock, but they still found themselves in a 15-25 hole. They went scoreless during the next two minutes before Destiny Grayer went to the foul line twice within a minute, making two of four. Ashley Hart sank their last field goal of the quarter with 1:30 left to make the score 19-35. Sadie Irvine finished their scoring with two free throws, then the Vikings ended with a 3-pointer to go into halftime on top 39-21.
The Vikings made the first field goal of the third quarter in the opening minute. With 8:09 on the clock, Tiffany Salinas drew a shooting foul. The DVC coach argued the call and drew a warning from the official. Then he made another comment, which resulted in him being assessed with a technical foul. Sadie Irvine went to the line to shoot two and made just the first. Play resumed with Salinas stepping up to shoot her two free throws. She made both to get to 24-41. La Donna Saint Louis' 3-pointer with 6:50 on the clock put the deficit at 27-43. Following a Vikings' 3-point play, Zaina Depina scored on a drive and Saint Louis on an 8-footer. Angel Bernardi sank a fast break layup over three minutes later. Ashley Hart scored the final basket on another fast break after catching the pass from Jenny Eggers to end the quarter behind by 16 at 35-51.
The Vikings scored the first five points of the fourth quarter in the opening minute on a 3-point play and a subsequent field goal. Sadie Irvine made her first field goal of the game with 8:55 on the clock. After Tiffany Salinas scored on a fast break with 7:20 left, the Bear Cubs were behind 39-58. The next two trips down finished with a field goal each by Zaina Depina and Irvine to get to 43-60 with 6:00 left. The Vikings outscored the visitors 14-4 during the next four minutes to extend their lead to 74-47. Angel Bernardi swished a 10-footer with 1:12 left, then Destiny Grayer did the same but from beyond the arc 39 seconds later. The Vikings ran the clock down and fired up a 25-footer that fell through just before the shot clock expired. The Bear Cubs inbounded with four seconds to play and Destiny Grayer drove the length of the court and pulled up 24 feet out to drop through the 3-pointer with 0.1 seconds remaining to finish the scoring in their 55-77 loss.
The Bear Cubs made 6 out of 27 shots (22%) in the first half, but made 14 out of 29 (48%) in the second. Their 28 turnovers prevented them from attempting more than their total of 56 shots. The Vikings took 69 shots, making 25 of them (36%), including 11 3-pointers.
Tiffany Salinas and La Donna Saint Louis led the Bear Cubs in scoring with 10 points each. Destiny Grayer and Zaina Depina each added 8 points, Sadie Irvine 7, Angel Bernardi 6, Ashley Hart 4, and Jenny Eggers 2. Sadie Irvine was the top rebounder with 10 and Tiffany Salinas pulled down 9.
Bear Cubs are home Tuesday and Friday at 5:30pm. Tuesday against Modesto Junior College, all proceeds from the game will go to American Cancer Society.