On Jan. 23, the Bakersfield College women’s basketball team went into overtime but came up short against Santa Monica College.
Coach Paula Dahl talked about the Jan. 23 loss.
“I was quite pleased with our efforts against Santa Monica. Our issue has been the same all season, which is we don’t dominant the boards like we should,” said Dahl.
Santa Monica took a three-point lead within the first two minutes of the game, and continued to lead for the first half. Sophomore guard Julianne Thomas commented on number 25 Newell and number 32 Danganan of Santa Monica.
“Those were two really good players, I think the game would have been different without them, and for us we wouldn’t have had to worry about stopping them so much,” said Thomas.
Freshman guard Alexi Smith also talked about the two players and said, “They lead their team. If they weren’t in the game it would have been a completely different game, but I’m proud of my team.”
Thomas and Smith got BC on the board with a layup and a few 3-pointers to make the score 18-7 with 9:30 left in the first half.
Smith then scored for her team by her free throw shots, and soon after got the rebound from Santa Monica and made two 3-pointers back to back. Sophomore guard Ashlee Taira also made a three pointer with 40 seconds left in the first half to make the score 25-21.
The Renegades ended the first half behind at halftime 27-23. In the second half, BC came back more aggressively as did Santa Monica. Freshman guard Kaileigh Christensen made two free throws at the four minute mark to then have BC only behind by four points.
With three minutes left in the second half, Smith made both of her free throws to help BC get back into the race with a two-point deficit.
The score was tied at 52 at the two-minute mark, and with one minute left, Christensen gave BC their first lead of the second half by two points to make the score 54-52.
With nine seconds, left Santa Monica was fouled and Newell from Santa Monica made both free throws to put them back in the lead at 56-54. BC got possession of the ball and called a timeout with seconds left on the clock.
Right after freshman forward Madison Tarver made a two pointer to put the game into overtime.
“I felt pretty good, we needed that basket, and I felt like our team came through and we got the basket,” said Tarver. Dahl commented on the game tying shot, “I was very excited when we came out of time out with 8.5 seconds left and the team executed exactly what was asked of them to put the game into overtime,” said Dahl.
She talked about the last five minutes of the game before overtime how BC took control of the board and how the roles reversed in overtime.
“The last five minutes of regulation, Santa Monica College couldn’t make a shot and we dominated the boards. In overtime that reversed, we had problems scoring and they dominated the boards, but after our game the night before, I was pleased with our performance. We were a completely different team than we were at Los Angeles Valley College,” said Dahl.
The Renegades then traveled to Glendale on Jan. 27 to take on Glendale College. BC won a tight game 73-71.
“We dominated the first half and the second half,” Dahl said. “Glendale found their shot and we struggled with the boards once again.”
In a close game BC was able to get back on track after Glendale started putting points up on the board.
“BC once again executed what was asked of them in the timeout, allowing us to get the ball in and win the game,” said Dahl.
Julie Thomas led the team with nine rebounds, Smith led the team with 16 points and five blocks and Ashlee Taira led with five a,ssists and four steals.
On Jan. 30, BC played against Citrus College and lost by 14 points with a final score of 70-56.
Smith led the team with 12 rebounds and 14 points and one block, Taira led with four assists and three steals.