The Cerritos women’s basketball team narrowly secures a 62- 60 win against the Pasadena City College Lancers on Jan. 17.
The Falcons kept a solid lead for most of the game and went into the fourth quarter up 46-31, but Pasadena turned up the heat and quickly bridged the gap.
Crystal Smith turned the tide against the Falcons, making a jump shot for a score 57-55. Jayden Estrada caught up with the three pointer making the score 57-58.
With 18 seconds on the clock, Antuanae Garrett was fouled and made both of her free throws to overtake the Falcons 59-58.
Moments later she was fouled a few more times and was able to make most of the free throws, bringing the game to 60 -58.
Six seconds until the game was all over when Melana Goodloe took possession of the ball. She jumped into the air and fired the ball straight into the hoop to tie the game.
Rayne Rodriguez took control of a runaway ball and with only 0.4 seconds left on the clock, made a final layup to win the game.
She was rushed by her teammates with smiles stretched from ear to ear.
“The ball was rolling so might as well grab it,” Rodriguez said about her game-winning shot.
Goodloe said she knew the team could do this and reinforced they needed to tune in and stay on the gameplan they had talked about.
“Fourth quarter was more of a mental battle for us,” Goodloe noted, “I could understand that even though we lacked on the strength side, we were good on the physical side, the IQ side. The point of losing-it wasn’t something that I could understand. The only way out of this game was to win.”
Trisha Kozlowski, Head Coach stated, “I knew they were gonna bring pressure and start trapping and try to get the ball and turn us over. They were ranked 25 in the state, in the last poll, and we just knocked them off.”
Coach Kozlowski got frustrated with head coach, Joe Peron, “You had to have one person on the free throw line, but he used all his timeouts with five minutes to go in the fourth. He’s calling them over like it’s a timeout, but the person on the line has to get on the line. That’s a delay of game.”
“I thought he had three calls, that’s a non-call in a lot of other games. We went up and played Mount Sac-nothing like that. A hand-check call? You don’t call that all game? Just inconsistent. He’s always like that. I know these refs, it’s the same stuff,” Kozlowski said.
Coach Kozlowski added about a questionable call, “You just gotta play through that stuff, but I’m the one that has to fight for my kids. That’s what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna fight for them like I’m asking them to fight for each other.”
The Falcons will host the Compton College Tartars and play their next game on Jan. 26 for their first conference game of the season.
