Women’s baskteball Rams top Renegades, set sights on Pasadena

By Aaron Turner
The Guardsman

The City College women’s basketball team knew they could not look past any opponent, despite the fact they have not lost a game in over two months.

The Rams took another step closer to a state title with a convincing 74-63 victory over Ohlone College on March 6 at the Wellness Center, and set the stage for a rematch with Pasadena City College in Thousand Oaks on March 11.

Mone Peoples led the scoring with 18 points on the night, and her sophomore guard companions Marlee Rice and Brittney Allen added 15 and 12 points, respectively.

“Ohlone is a good team with some really good athletes,” head coach Jamie Hayes said. “It’s hard to play a team four times and get a win each time, so they were not a team to be taken lightly.”

This was the fourth time this season the Rams have topped the Renegades, and in every game the Rams’ margin of victory was ten points or greater.

Still, Ohlone started off with a spark, going neck and neck with the Rams’ scorers midway through the first half.

Despite the prolific scoring effort by Rams’ guards, it was the Rams’ forwards who would put the clamps down on defense.

Sophomore forward Ciera Foster was able to slow down the Ohlone scoring attack and allowed the Rams to build up a sizable 40-29 lead going into the half.

“Everyone got it done tonight,” Foster said following the game. “They had two really good players tonight. We had ten.”

The Rams showed some of that depth in the second half. Freshman forward Shawnte Taylor, who had 10 points by halftime, sat out for five minutes to have a cut on her chin stitched after a hard fall on the floor.

Freshman Shanyece Thomas was able to fill in nicely until Taylor could return to the game.

Despite Ohlone’s attempted comeback led by Renegade guard Geneaya Rogers, the Rams were able to go on a 12-0 run to put the game out of reach. After falling behind briefly 54-50, the Rams scored on their next six possessions in a row.

“The fast break is what was working,” Allen said. “We had to get back to our bread and butter and just run on them.”

All eyes now turn to the Rams’ fourth-round opponent, Pasadena. Rams sophomores still have the bitter memory of last year’s heart-breaking double overtime loss to the Lancers at the state tournament in Fresno.

“We’re very confident going into this game,” Peoples said. “We all definitely want to get Pasadena back for last year, so we’ll be going hard.”