The Rams Showed the Trojans There’s No Lane into the City College Fortress

 

by Brett Abel
babel2@mail.ccsf.edu

 

The City College women’s basketball team had a game that won’t be forgotten anytime soon. 

The Rams extended their undefeated Coast-North Conference record to 7-0 with a nearly 20-point win against Skyline College on Feb. 7.

“I’m remembering this one,” said sophomore forward Maddy Thomas.

The 57-38 home victory for City College against the Trojans was a game of firsts for Thomas and freshman forward Stephanie Salazar, both of whom came up big in the second half to put the Rams’ overall record to 15-8.

The win comes between a few weeks of varying mental challenges for the Rams.

Coach Derek Lau said the Feb. 5 game at Las Positas was tough physically and mentally. He wanted his team to relax with only one game the week after beating Skyline—a 76-39 win at Ohlone on Feb. 12—before finishing the season with games at Chabot College (17-10 overall, 8-1 in conference) and at home against the College of San Mateo (15-10, 9-3) on Feb. 19 and 21, respectively.

Thomas, the Skyline game’s leading scorer with 26 points, went 9-15 from the field, including 4-6 from behind the 3-point arc.

“I haven’t hit a 3 for, like, the whole season,” the team captain said. “I was like, ‘Thank freaking God.’”

 

 

Thomas started the game strong for the Rams against Skyline (7-17 overall, 1-5 in conference), with a steal at half court and a drive to the hoop, and later hit a first-quarter corner 3 to set the tone for the game. She had 9 of the Rams’ 22 first-half points.

“I hit a switch in my head: initiate,” she said.

After the team’s somewhat slow start, the Rams dominated after halftime. City College was 9-12 from the free-throw line and had four steals in the second half, compared to 2-2 from the line and two steals in the first half.
Thomas scored three of her four 3-pointers in the second half.

“We had to battle mentally; this week was tough,” said coach Lau after a physical 84-34 win at Las Positas College on Feb. 5. His team was mentally strained coming into the Skyline game and had to adjust to the Trojans’ gameplay.

“They played differently last time. They put the ball in the middle of the floor and came out of the zone,” he said. “They have one shooter – we did a good job limiting her. When they drive, take away the lane.”

The Rams limited the Skyline offense to two players: starting sophomore forward Jazmynn Sciancalepore-Garcia and freshman center Imaya Anderson. They were held to 12 and 9 points from off the bench, respectively.

The rest of the team was almost completely stopped. The other four starters combined for 5-35 from the field, including 1-9 from the three. Meanwhile, the rest of the bench was 0-11.

The Trojans were able to limit some of the Rams’ leading scorers as well. Freshman guard Allie Nelson had eight points on 3-14 shooting and she was 1-6 from the three.

Ram sophomore guard Jayden Borgna was second in scoring for the team with 10 points, shooting 3-7 from the field and 4-4 for free throws.

However, a big game in the paint by Salazar, a City College freshman forward, picked up on defense where some of the offense lacked.

Salazar usually pairs under the hoop with sophomore center Malea Scobie, but Scobie broke her foot and has been getting around in a hard plastic walking boot since the 57-41 win over Chabot College on Jan. 24.

Now Salazar was up against Skyline on her own. From down low, she grabbed 11 defensive rebounds on and had three blocks. And she did all that while not committing a single foul until there was only 1:19 left in the game – her only one of the game.

“I’ve never had a game like that,” she said.

She said all she wanted to do against Skyline was grab rebounds and stay out of foul trouble and even channeled the great Michael Jordan. 

“That was my motivation: just make rebounds, getting back, rebound, boxing out,” she said. “(Teammate Zakai McAlister) Z said, ‘no fouls, at all,’ and I took that personally.”