The Cerritos College women’s basketball team expands on their winning streak with a victory over Los Angeles Harbor College, the final score was 77-59.
Freshman guard No. 23 Jessica Gomez hopes the team’s two-game winning streak continues because they want to make it to playoffs. She believes it’s very possible if the team continues to play well.
Head coach Trisha Kozlowski was a little disappointed with the team’s first half performance because of how many shots they were missing. “…we responded and thats kind of been one of the characteristics of this team, we always respond.”
Sophomore, forward No. 15 Alexis Clark said the team started playing a lot better in the second half.
Clark said, “[It was] the five that [the coach] had on the floor when we were pressing, everybody was just on the same page and everybody was being consistent, that went on for like five minutes, so we were just on a run and that just triggered [the lead] and [we] kept going.”
“We found something that works, we found that press that worked and we got some points off of our defense,” said Kozlowski.
Kozlowski praises her defense and says defensively is where they’re going to continue to win games.
Previously beating LA Southwest on Jan. 24, Kozlowski praised the team’s defense as well, along with how hard the players pressure their opponents when necessary.
Kozlowski said when the team is playing good defense, it will always create good offensive looks.
Gomez hopes she can improve her game by fixing a variety of little things. She said, “I think I can improve by controlling my emotions and thinking with my head and [staying] focused.”
Gomez also believes that by not being so hard on herself and just focusing on the next play, that would contribute graciously to her game.
Although, Gomez said, she wasn’t very content with her shot against LA Harbor, she still feels like she performed well on the defensive end, but she knows she can do better.
Clark played a big role in the win against LA Harbor. Clark began the game with a couple of missed layups and was frustrated. Going into the second half her game picked up and she began scoring off of the opponent’s offensive errors.
“Seeing [the ball] not go in, it frustrated me. I just focused on getting closer to the basket, jumping higher and finishing better,” said Clark.
Clark had a lot of opportunities including three continuous made baskets all off of the fast break chances given to her by the team’s good defense.
Clark said, this win was one of her better performances of the season because her mindset was different compared to previous games.
In previous games Clark would go into the match not wanting to mess up, so she believes overthinking the situation is what caused some of her weaker performances.
“I would come into games overthinking, and I think this game I kind of relaxed a lot more,” said Clark.
Clark says coming off of the bench effects her a little, but in a way where she wants to play harder to gain her starting spot back.
Clark also mentioned her team played very well in this conference match compared to the last couple of games where they weren’t really working together as a whole.
“I think we had a lot of good looks today. I think we did better because we were communicating more [and] able to read each other—just working better together,” said Clark.
Clark stated the team’s energy and communication was a very big factor on the lead during the second half. The team eventually won the game by 18 points.
Kozlowski is “absolutely” confident that the team can win the next two games in conference which would be for a first place position, but for now it’s about taking it one game at a time.
The Falcons’ women’s basketball team has their next conference match at home against Long Beach City College on Jan. 31.
Check out live tweets of the game here: https://mobile.twitter.com/talonmarksports/status/957055494622859264
