Women’s Basketball Comeback Falls Just Short in Loss to San José
As the regular season comes to a close, the Rams must raise their level of play.
The Rams fell to San José City College 69-60 on Feb. 6th. San José defended in a 2-3 zone for the entire game, which made scoring more difficult for City.
When the Rams had success, they moved the ball with crisp passes to find easy layups. Forward Stephanie Salazar and center June Lumumba cashed in as a result, scoring nine and 11 points, respectively. Sophomore guard Alexis Cornejo also knocked down a couple shots from behind the arc, scoring 10 in the loss.
After the first quarter, the score was all tied up at 14-14. Cornejo pump-faked and sank a floater, and the Rams’ good ball movement led to a jumper. Unfortunately, being in the bonus cost the Rams some free throws. Thus, they were down 32-36 at the half.
The San José lead ballooned to 51-30 at one point, but with 2:45 to go, the Rams had trimmed the San José lead to just three – 59-56. However, San José pulled away in the final minutes for the non-conference win.
“I definitely think we can improve on getting back,” Cornejo said. “When it comes to the games, I think we just get flustered, and we have to work on our communication.”
Freshman guard Caelan De Vera echoed that focus. “I think we can work on making the extra pass,” she said.
Despite the loss, players pointed to progress. “Our ball movement definitely got a lot better… it’s just a matter of closing and finishing and being consistent throughout the whole game,” Cornejo said.
De Vera added that the team’s energy fueled its comeback. “I think we kept our energy coming back from a 22-point deficit – the bench was hyped, the players were loud. I think that really helped our momentum on the court.”
Freshman guard Jessie Chau highlighted the team’s interior play. “I think we did [a good job] of getting the ball to the middle and touching the key and then kicking it back out,” she said.
To sum it up, Cornejo said: “We definitely need to improve at just getting the little details right.”
Head Coach Derek Lau was direct in his assessment. "Obviously, we lost. We didn’t put together a consistent game. We have a lot of young players, but that’s no excuse. They have to know that they’ve got to bring energy every game, and they walked in and weren’t ready right off the bat.”
He cited execution as the central issue. “We have to knock down shots… we were kind of turning the ball over – some of our passes were at people’s feet and things like that, but we have to be accountable for those things. That’s on us to play better and push that ball in transition. We [have] to get better at executing [against] a 2-3 zone.”
“We have to be ready to go and be consistent for four quarters and have the same energy for four quarters,” Lau said. “It’s the only way we’re going to turn the tables on this. We’re still in good shape.”
The Rams are currently 18-5 and 4-1 in conference play. Their final home game of the regular season is against Foothill on Friday, Feb. 20, at 5 p.m.
