PC men’s, women’s hoops knock off Reedley
The Porterville College men’s and women’s basketball teams had a doubleheader on Saturday at home against the Reedley Tigers. Both the men’s and women’s teams won their games with the men winning 7062 while the women won 78-58.
The women’s game started fast with the Tigers taking the lead with a fast pair of plays. The Pirates had to respond and did so with a solid play started by Kaija Ambriz.
Ambriz took the ball after a pass from Jazlynne Medrano and went to secure the basket. However, the Tigers fouled Ambriz before she could take the threepoint shot, and gave her three free throw attempts to compensate. Ambriz was cool and collected as she sank each and every shot cutting Reedley’s lead to 9-6.
Davina Lopez and Medrano thenplayed some serious defense. Lopez made a steal from the Tigers and went onto score on a layup. Another steal by the Pirates, this time by Mariah Castanon, had Castanon send out the ball to Ambriz. Ambriz had to move around the court to keep the Tigers at bay and eventually she passed the ball to Assyria Murrietta. Murrietta needed only a few steps to get under the Tigers basket and she laid the ball in the net to give PC a 12-9 lead.
The game continued with an impressive play by Jenna Holder. She passed to a wide open Medrano for the 3-point shot that Medrano sank.
The Pirates had the lead and kept it rolling as they went into the second quarter, with Lopez in possession. Lopez had the ball and was taking it down the court but she was fouled, allowing her two free throw attempts, both of which she made.
The Tigers responded with a basket, but Castanon followed with a 3-point shot to give PC a 26-14 lead.
The second half of the game was even harder for the Tigers, as the Pirates ended the third quarter with a 20-point lead at 64-44. Ambriz was the first of the Pirates
to make the push up the court. As the Tiger defenders came around Ambriz, she shot the ball over to Sandra Ramirez. Ramirez was near halfcourt as she moved around the Tigers and sent the ball hurtling to Murrietta. Murrietta had her work cut out for her as three Tigers quickly swarmed her. With little time and even less space, Murrietta handed the ball over to Cienna Enriquez. Enriquez moved the ball out and around trying to mix the Tigers defense up enough for the Pirates to capitalize. Only a few moments passed and Enriquez tossed the ball over to Ramirez. Ramirez had to act fast as the shot clock counted down and she made the basket.
Lopez scored PC’S final basket with a running off an assist from Medrano, finalizing the score at 78-58.
PC MEN 70, REEDLEY 62
The men’s basketball teams were next and both started on fire. The jump ball was in the Pirates favor as Assad Madassalia took it at the tip off.
Julio Phipps took the tip from Madassalia and moved down the court. The Tigers were quick to corner Phipps and soon Phipps had to pass the ball over to Cameron Walker. Walker had an iffy shot on the basket and so he sent it over to Elijah Sterling and worked around the Tigers basket. Sterling did his best to move the Tigers defense around and then faked them out with a fast pass back to Phipps. Phipps was at the 3-point line and he sank the shot. With 19:36 left on the clock the Pirates took the lead 3-0 and wouldn’t give it up.
A pair of layups from Madassalia and Jalen Foy brought the score to 7-0 before the Tigers got on the board with a free throw. Continuing quickly the Pirates Walker passed the ball over to Sterling who had to give it right back to Walker, who made a 3-point shot.
With the score now 123, the Pirates weren’t letting up. A fast break by the Pirates Jake Abrams looked like it was going to be another easy basket but a foul by the Tigers sent the ball out of bounds.
Abrams had a second chance though and as he received the ball from the outside and he moved into position. Abrams didn’t wait a second before he shot and was fouled by the Tigers again. This time Abrams still sank a free throw and gave PC a 3019.
The Tigers started to rally during the second half, closing to within 37-30 at the start of the second half. The Pirates continued to hold their lead though thanks to impressive play by the entire team.
Sterling was fouled while going for another 3-point shot and made two of the three free throws. The last minute of play was actually full of fouls and timeouts by each side. The Pirates final margin was thanks to Cameron Walker who nailed his free throws after a foul by a Tiger defender to make the final score 70-62.
The Pirates next home games are on Saturday, February 4 against Merced at 3 p.m. for the women and 5 p.m. for the men.