Women's Basketball: SRJC comes up just short against ranked East LA

#22 Lani Lincoln passing

SRJC 68, East Los Angeles College 71

             The Bear Cubs (4-6) made the relatively short drive down the 101 to San Francisco for their last preseason action in the 8-team, 3-round City College of San Francisco Golden Gate Classic. Their opening round opponent: the Huskies (7-4) of East Los Angeles College. The Bear Cubs got off to a great start making three out of four shots in the first 2:10 for an 8-0 lead: Lani Lincoln swished her first shot of the game for "3," Trinity Hawkins scored a putback, and Lincoln drained her second shot from beyond the arc. The Huskies made one free throw 20 seconds later. Hawkins and Kierra Johnson scored the next two field goals for a 12-3 lead at the midpoint of the quarter. The Huskies sank a 12-footer, and then Hawkins made two free throws. The Huskies put in a 3-pointer and a field goal to close to 10-14. The Bear Cubs scored six unanswered points on Hawkins' 1-footer after a quick cut to the hoop, Hanna Morris' 5-footer, and Johnson's 2-footer with 1:39 on the clock for a 20-10 margin. During the remainder of the period, the Huskies drained a 3-pointer, Johnson made one free throw, and the Huskies scored consecutive field goals to cut their deficit to 17-21.

            The Huskies opened the second quarter with an 8-0 run on two 3-pointers and a field goal. Trinity Hawkins scored on a cut to the basket with 8:00 on the clock. The Huskies sank a field goal, and then Trinity Hawkins dropped in a 3-footer. The Huskies hit a 3-pointer and one of two free throws nearly two minutes later. Kierra Johnson's putback at the 3:40 mark made their hole 27-31. After Lani Lincoln drove in, spun around, and dropped in the 5-footer with 2:26 left, the score was 29-33. The Huskies put in a field goal. Hawkins scored the Bear Cubs' last two points on a drive with 1:44 remaining. The Huskies finished with a 5-0 run to jump out to a 40-31 lead by halftime.

            The Huskies scored six points on a 3-pointer and a 3-point play before Lani Lincoln swished a baseline 3-pointer on an inbounds play and Kassi Agapoff made a fast break layup with 5:40 on the clock. The Huskies added two field goals, and then Lincoln made another spin shot floater at the 3:30 mark. Trinity Hawkins sank a 15-footer and Lincoln made two free throws to get to 42-50 with 2:10 left. The Huskies put in one more field goal and so did the Bear Cubs when Kierra Johnson scored on a baseline inbounds play to get to 44-52 by the end of the quarter.

            Kassi Agapoff scored on a drive on the Bear Cubs' first possession of the fourth quarter. The Huskies made one field goal. Neither team made their next shots, and then Trinity Hawkins drove full court after the Huskies' miss, made the basket while being fouled, and sank the free throw to complete the 3-point play. With 8:08 on the clock, two opposing players both had their hands on a rebound near the Bear Cubs' basket. The referee blew his whistle to signal the held ball, but the East LA player slammed the ball to the floor. The official called a technical foul. Lani Lincoln stepped to the free throw line and made both to close the gap to 51-53. The Bear Cubs then scored 11 more unanswered points on Trinity Hawkins' 1-footer on a backscreen cut, Agapoff's layup followed by her 3-pointer on an inbounds play, Hawkins' putback, and Kierra Johnson's 1-footer to jump out in front 62-57 at the 5:45 mark. The Huskies sank an 8-footer. Trinity Hawkins dropped in another putback, and Kierra Johnson banked in a 1-footer with 3:30 left to make the lead 66-60. The Huskies hit two consecutive field goals to close to 64-66 with 1:50 remaining. Thirty seconds later, Lizbeth Zavala grabbed a long offensive rebound nine feet from the basket and swished the quick shot. The Huskies put in a 10-footer at the one-minute mark to make their deficit 66-68. As the Bear Cubs were moving the ball from the backcourt across halfcourt against pressure, the guard was double-teamed and threw the ball into the hands of an opponent, who made the layup and drew a foul but missed the free throw to keep the score tied at 68. The Bear Cubs missed their next shot, but the Huskies didn't to go ahead 70-68 with 24 seconds left. The Bear Cubs turned the ball over and were forced to foul with 13 seconds to go. The East LA player made the first free throw but missed the second for a 3-point lead. The Bear Cubs pushed the ball, but not wisely. The 3-point shot attempt went out of bounds. The Huskies called a timeout with 3.1 seconds and advanced the ball. They inbounded and ran out the clock on their 71-68 victory.

            The Bear Cubs started off the game strong, got behind by as many as 14 points in the third quarter, battled back to take a 68-64 lead in the fourth quarter, then made crucial mistakes in the final minute to turn what could have been an upset victory into another disappointing loss.

            Trinity Hawkins led all scorers with her season-high 25 points to go along with 11 rebounds. Lani Lincoln, who played the entire game, scored 17 points and passed for 7 assists. Kierra Johnson had her sixth double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Kassi Agapoff contributed 9 points, and Hanna Morris and Lizbeth Zavala 2 points each.