SRJC 46, San Joaquin Delta College 79

            One the second day of 2018 the Bear Cubs (5-7, 1-1) encountered little traffic on their drive to Stockton to take on the Mustangs (8-5, 1-0) of San Joaquin Delta College, the #8 team in the North. The Mustangs put the first "2" up on the scoreboard 95 seconds into the contest. Over a minute later Jenny Eggers drew a shooting foul and made just the first free throw. With 6:08 on the clock, Eggers sank the Bear Cubs' first basket. The Mustangs quickly responded with a driving layup after hurriedly inbounding the ball. Kylie Oden's 3-pointer briefly gave the Bear Cubs a 6-4 lead. But 10 seconds later, the Mustangs made their first of two 3-pointers in a row. Destiny Grayer's field goal at the 1:06 mark cut their deficit to 10-16. Angel Bernardi's basket from the low post with 37 seconds left made it 12-16. The Mustangs scored the final two points on a basket with 21 second remaining to give them an 18-12 lead after one quarter of play.

            The Mustangs began the second quarter with the ball and in short measure converted a 4-point play. Both teams went scoreless for nearly two and a half minutes until the hosts sank a 3-pointer. With 6:36 on the clock Kylie Oden swished a 3-pointer to close the gap to 15-25. The Mustangs put together a 10-0 run, which included two 3-pointers, before Angel Bernardi made two free throws with 2:44 left and dropped in a 3-pointer 30 seconds later. The Mustangs added another 3-pointer and one free throw in the next 22 seconds. Kylie Oden hit a pull-up jumper with 32 seconds left, and the Mustangs banked in a drive just before the quarter-ending buzzer for a 41-22 halftime lead.

            The Mustangs started off the third quarter by scoring on their first seven possessions for 15 points in four minutes. Meanwhile Kylie Oden swished two deep 3-pointers and Jenny Eggers stepped out beyond the arc and made her only 3-point attempt, making the score 31-56. During the remainder of the period the Mustangs outscored the Bear Cubs 10-4, as only DJ Hayes and Oden managed to sink field goals.

            The Mustangs hit a 3-pointer on their first possession of the fourth quarter. They made another 3-pointer with 6:56 on the clock to widen their lead to 72-35. Destiny Grayer's 3-pointer and subsequent field goal made the deficit 40-76. In the final minutes of the game the Mustangs made one more 3-pointer, while Mireya Lopez and Madeline Strom each made a short shot and Lopez and Hayes each sank one of two free throws for a final score of 46-79.

            Eleven Mustang players scored and eight of them made at least one 3-pointer. They finished with 13 3-pointers and the Bear Cubs with seven. Against the tough Delta defense the Bear Cubs shot poorly, making only 16 out of 53 shots (30%) and committed 26 turnovers. The Mustangs made 41% of their shots (30 out of 74), including 13 out of 32 from beyond the arc (41%).

            Kylie Oden led all scorers with 16 points, including 4 3-pointers. Angel Bernardi scored 8 points against the taller posts. Destiny Grayer added 7 points, Jenny Eggers 6, Mireya Lopez and DJ Hayes 3 each, Madeline Strom 2, and Cammie Barsuglia 1. Eggers was the top rebounder with 7 and Gaby Roldan, who started in place of injured Britta Irvine, grabbed 5 missed shots. Oden came up with 4 steals.