SRJC 45, Diablo Valley College 63
With the addition of Folsom Lake College to the Big 8 Conference, the nine teams have to play two games in December. The Wednesday before Christmas the Bear Cubs (4-6) made their shortest conference road trip to begin Big 8 play in Pleasant Hill to face the Vikings of Diablo Valley College (7-3), the #6 team in the North. The Vikings got on the scoreboard first 88 seconds after winning the tipoff. They scored their second field goal 74 seconds later. After missing their first three shots, the Bear Cubs made their only field goal of the quarter on an 8-footer by Mireya Lopez with 6:28 on the clock, making the score 2-4. During the remainder of the period, the Bear Cubs missed all eight of their shots but made 7 out of 12 free throws, as the Vikings jumped out to a 17-9 lead.
The Vikings opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer, and 13 seconds later Destiny Grayer drew a shooting foul and made both free throws. The Vikings sank two 3-pointers before Jenny Eggers banked in an inside shot at the 7:23 mark. Following a Vikings' field goal, Eggers made another close shot with 5:44 on the clock. The Bear Cubs only got off four more shots in the period, missing all of them. Angel Bernardi and Britta Irvine both made their two free throws. Meanwhile the Vikings added nine more points to lengthen their lead at halftime to 37-19.
Kylie Oden made her only basket of the contest at the 6:01 mark in the third quarter, which made the score 22-43. Jenny Eggers added a field goal 83 seconds later, and in the next 88 seconds Mireya Lopez made one of two free throws and a field goal to put the score at 27-47 with 3:10 remaining. The Vikings scored the final seven points to widen their margin to 54-27 by the end of the quarter.
The Vikings again scored first in the fourth quarter nearly two minutes in. Jenny Eggers was successful on a post move on the Bear Cubs' next possession, but the Vikings responded with a 3-pointer. The Bear Cubs tallied six points on two field goals by Angel Bernardi and two free throws by Jenny Eggers before the Vikings swished another 3-pointer with 5:11 on the clock, making their lead 62-35. Then Eggers scored three times in a row before the Vikings' final point on a free throw with 2:36 left. Eggers made another post shot with 1:54 remaining and DJ Hayes sank both free throws with 9 seconds to go, to end the game with a final score of 45-63.
Against the Vikings' tough defensive pressure, the Bear Cubs made only 6 out of 33 shots (18%) in the first three quarters. But during the fourth quarter, Jenny Eggers, who had picked up three fouls in the first half and her fourth late in the third quarter after sitting out for the first six minutes, finally was able to get the ball consistently inside and made 5 out of 6 shots. The Bear Cubs made 7 out of 15 shots (47%) in the fourth quarter, as they outscored their hosts 18-9.
Jenny Eggers led the Bear Cubs with 20 points and 7 rebounds. Angel Bernardi, who made 6 out of 10 free throws, finished with 10 points. Mireya Lopez added 5 points, Kylie Oden 4, Destiny Grayer, Britta Irvine, and DJ Hayes 2 each, all on free throws.