Championship Bound
Women's hoops hold off #8 College of the Canyons with a 78-66 win heading towards Fresno in hopes of bringing home a state championship
James Choy
Issue date: 3/6/06 Section: Sports
The Mounties faced some adversities against the #8 seed College of the Canyon Cougars early in the game, but successfully held off their offensive attack with a 78-66 win.
South Coast Conference MVP Lauren Ervin led all teams with 32 points with an amazing display of defense, blocking a handful of shots on the frontcourt.
"The opponents were looking to use the back door cut in their offense and I just told my team send them to the back door and I'll block the shots, and that's what I did on a number of occasions," said Ervin. "In the first half we felt that we were running off adrenaline and some of our shots were rushed but we executed our offense and passed it to find the open look." Ervin along with her offense played effective high-post defense with four steals and utilized a number of fast breaks for the Mounties.
The Mounties' Krystal Fontenot scored 15 points with Sam Cardeno's 11 points, two vital three-pointers midway in the second half to widen from single-digit to a double-digit lead.
"Coach Beeman just told me not to rush my shot, and to give a pump fake and shoot the midrange shot if I could," said Cardeno.
The Cougar's defense periodically gave some problems on defense to the Mounties who led by as much as 17 points in the second half, but the Cougars got as close to six points with 12:52 left in the game.
"Their defensive pressure affected us. We started to commit some costly turnovers but I told the girls to control the ball and take good shots," Beeman said.
The Cougars came into the game averaging 80 points per game, but were held to 66 against the Mounties.
The girls now advance to the California State Championships in Fresno on Thurs.-Sun. hoping to win state. The championship would be the second in the last three years under Beeman's helm. Announcements for the state tourney's pairings will be revealed at http://www.coasports.org/
South Coast Conference MVP Lauren Ervin led all teams with 32 points with an amazing display of defense, blocking a handful of shots on the frontcourt.
"The opponents were looking to use the back door cut in their offense and I just told my team send them to the back door and I'll block the shots, and that's what I did on a number of occasions," said Ervin. "In the first half we felt that we were running off adrenaline and some of our shots were rushed but we executed our offense and passed it to find the open look." Ervin along with her offense played effective high-post defense with four steals and utilized a number of fast breaks for the Mounties.
The Mounties' Krystal Fontenot scored 15 points with Sam Cardeno's 11 points, two vital three-pointers midway in the second half to widen from single-digit to a double-digit lead.
"Coach Beeman just told me not to rush my shot, and to give a pump fake and shoot the midrange shot if I could," said Cardeno.
The Cougar's defense periodically gave some problems on defense to the Mounties who led by as much as 17 points in the second half, but the Cougars got as close to six points with 12:52 left in the game.
"Their defensive pressure affected us. We started to commit some costly turnovers but I told the girls to control the ball and take good shots," Beeman said.
The Cougars came into the game averaging 80 points per game, but were held to 66 against the Mounties.
The girls now advance to the California State Championships in Fresno on Thurs.-Sun. hoping to win state. The championship would be the second in the last three years under Beeman's helm. Announcements for the state tourney's pairings will be revealed at http://www.coasports.org/