SRJC 54, Butte College 65
The Bear Cubs opened the 2023-24 season on the road to take on the top-ranked team in the North, the Roadrunners of Butte College, last season's State Runner-up. The hosts swished a 3-pointer on their initial possession. The Bear Cubs scored the next 9 points on Meredith Gilbertson's drive, two free throws by Lucca Lowenberg and one by Reese Searcy, Gilbertson's reverse layup, and Ivy Gonzalez's turnaround 4-footer. Shade Satica made two baskets in a row for the Roadrunners to close the gap to 7-9. The Bear Cubs extended their lead to 13-7 on another reverse layup by Gilbertson and Searcy's drive with 4:11 on the clock. Satica sank another field goal, and then Gonzalez scored on a drive. A Roadrunner 3-pointer and field goal cut the Bear Cubs' lead to 15-14 with 1:24 left. JJ Martinez caught Gonzalez's assist pass outside the 3-point line with eight seconds remaining and swished the shot to put the Bear Cubs ahead 18-14 by the end of the period.
The Roadrunners cut their deficit in half 10 seconds before Meredith Gilbertson drew a shooting foul and sank both free throws. Lucca Lowenberg's steal and layup at the 7:26 mark widened the lead to 22-16. Madalynn Bassett answered with two baskets in a row—a field goal and a 3-pointer—to get the Roadrunners within a point with 5:45 on the clock. Twenty-five seconds later Praise Nigimar hit a shot from just inside the 3-point line. After Satica's field goal, Maya Salas completed a 3-point play on a drive to the hoop with 3:43 left for a 27-23 margin. The Roadrunners tied the score at 27 with 2:04 to go. Gilbertson banked in a 1-footer on the assist pass from Lucca Lowenberg for the Bear Cubs' last two points of the period 1:02 after that. In the remaining time Aubrey Prunty scored two field goals in a row to put the hosts in front 31-29 by halftime.
Meredith Gilbertson tied the score on a drive 70 seconds into the third quarter. The Roadrunners hit a field goal 83 seconds later. Reese Searcy's 3-pointer with 7:02 on the clock put the Bear Cubs back in front 34-33. Sarah Tait's 3-pointer on the Roadrunners' next possession was followed by Meredith Gilbertson's 1-footer off of Lucca Lowenberg's assist. Satica drew two shooting fouls and made three free throws, and then Reagan Marroquin dropped in her only basket of the contest to give her team a 41-36 advantage at the 4:20 mark. About a minute later Praise Nigimar cut to the hoop and caught Lucca Lowenberg's assist pass to sink the 1-footer. Satica sank a field goal. The next time down Nigimar grabbed the offensive rebound and banked in the putback to close to 40-41 with 2:40 left. Satica hit another field goal 24 seconds later. The Bear Cubs put together a 7-0 run on Ivy Gonzalez's 4-foot fall-away shot, Nigimar's 3-pointer and her drive for a 47-43 lead with 36 seconds left. The Roadrunners added two free throws to narrow the Bear Cubs' margin to 47-45 by the end of the quarter.
Meredith Gilbertson started the scoring in the fourth quarter on a 1-footer off a bullet pass across the key from Reese Searcy. Madalynn Bassett swished a 3-pointer for the Roadrunners and then Gilbertson scored inside off the assist from Praise Nigimar with 7:02 on the clock. Gilbertson scored the Bear Cubs' final basket on a baseline inbounds pass from Hannah Webb with 5:53 left for a 53-48 advantage. The Roadrunners proceeded to score 17 unanswered points, while the Bear Cubs were missing their remaining 10 shots. Reese Searcy drew a shooting foul with 19 seconds to go and made one free throw, resulting in a 65-54 win by the Roadrunners.
Except for the last minute of the second quarter and the final five minutes of the game, the Bear Cubs played well enough to pull off the upset victory. The Bear Cubs made only 3 out of 18 shots (17%) in the fourth quarter. Their 3-point shooting was disappointing, as they made only 3 out of 20 attempts (15%). Nine Roadrunners scored with Shade Satica (19 points) the only one to reach double figures.
Meredith Gilbertson registered her first career double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Praise Nigimar scored 11 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. Reese Searcy added 7 points, Ivy Gonzalez 6, Lucca Lowenberg 4, JJ Martinez and Maya Salas 3 each. Ivy Gonzalez pulled down 8 rebounds. Lucca Lowenberg passed for 3 assists.