Comets advance to tourney title game
- Updated: December 19, 2018
2018 COMMUNITY COLLEGE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Courtesy, Palomar media relations
COSTA MESA (12-19-2018) – The ninth-ranked Palomar College women’s basketball team moved into position to defend their title at the Erin Tomlinson Coast Christmas Classic by whipping No. 19 Irvine Valley, 75-61, in Tuesday’s (Dec. 18) semifinals at Orange Coast College’s Basil Peterson Gymnasium.
The Comets (11-3) will tangle with No. 12 El Camino in Wednesday’s championship ballgame, slated for 7 p.m. The Warriors built an lead to easily take down Long Beach, 64-49.
Freshman guard Mackenna Gentry (Mt. Carmel) fueled the Comets offense with 9 assists, allowing Clarissa Taite to score a team-best 15 points, while Taylor Williams added 14 points. Meanwhile, Lilly Crabtree posted 11 rebounds.
Taite led gained her points on 5-for-9 shooting, including 3-for-5 on three-pointers.
Williams’ totals included 5 offensive rebounds and a pair of steals, while Julie Saelee had 12 points and 3 steals.
Other key contributors for the Comets included Dee-Dee Valenzuela with 7 points and Nalei’a Nalei’a Brackett (Carlsbad) with 6 rebounds.
Palomar, trailing from the beginning of the game, finally took the lead for the first time with 7:46 remaining in the second quarter on a three-pointer by Saelee off Brackett’s assist and led 30-27 at halftime.
The Comets fell behind briefly midway through the third quarter but quickly regained the lead 41-39 with 4:34 remaining in the period on Heise’s three-pointer off a Gentry assist and stayed on top the rest of the way, putting the Lasers away with a 26-point fourth quarter.
In consolation action, Cerritos (9-5) avoided upset-minded Saddleback (3-8), 74-70, while Chaffey (4-7) eliminated tournament hoist and winless Orange Coast (0-8), 71-47, as the Pirates matched their poorest start since the 1977 season (the first official season of state-sanctioned women’s athletics in California).
Spartan Coast Classic
MiraCosta 70, San Diego Mesa 47: MiraCosta started hot ,leading at the end of the first quarter, 17-7. At points of the game Mesa College had a difficult time getting the ball across half court with MiraCosta forcing numerous 10 second violations with its defensive intensity.
Britney Jarvis led the Spartans with 16 points including four 3-points shots.
Chynna Cochran, Savannah Beasley, Julia Iman and Helena Betancourt allhad noticeable impact on the game with their defensive prowess. MiraCosta also had to find a way to slow down Mesa’s inside players which they accomplished with the support of McKena Stoeff, Uneque Fradiue and Victoria Wilson.
Imperial Valley 43, Compton 34: Freshman point guard Jasmine Ponce (Holtville) drained 5-of-6 shots from the floor, including all three from 3-point land, to registered a game-best 12 points to fuel the Arabs.
Sophomore guard Keren Hogue (Imperial) added 11 points, while sophomore forward Destiny Salgado (El Centro-Central) had 10 points and 12 rebounds., handing the winless Tartars their ninth-consecutive setback.
San Diego City 81, Porterville 50: No report.
