Santa Ana College finished third in its own tournament. (Photo courtesy Santa Ana College sports information)
The Santa Ana College women’s basketball team took home the third place trophy in its annual tournament after defeating Bakersfield College 60-46 on Saturday night.
Although the Dons struggled to score in the first half against a pressing Renegade defense, they made adjustments at halftime which helped them outscore BC 41-21 down the stretch.
Santa Ana began its comeback in the third, going on an 11-3 run to cut the Bakersfield lead to one (33-32) with 51 seconds left in the quarter. Six different players scored in the quarter for the Dons with Nicole Robles leading the balanced attack at five points on 2-of-3 shooting.
In the fourth quarter, the Dons started to click on all cylinders to score a season high 25 points (in one quarter), overwhelming the Renegades to close out the game.
Danielle Pryor and Brianna Aluva scored 14 points each and combined for 13 rebounds, eight steals and five assists.
Lexi Ross had nine points and six rebounds while Alekzandra Peggins (2-of-3 field goals, six points) and Shayla Sweet (nine rebounds, three points) gave Santa Ana quality minutes off the bench.
After falling to the Hope International University JV team and Merced College in the first two days of the tournament, the Dons pulled back to .500 (3-3) with the win over Bakersfield.
TWO DONS RUNNERS COMPETE IN STATE CROSS COUNTRY
The Santa Ana cross country program sent two runners to the 2019 CCCAA State Championships held at Woodward Park in Fresno on Saturday.
Maria Marroquin was the lone female runner to qualify for SAC after placing 33rd in the SoCal Championships the week prior. Marroquin finished her Santa Ana career with another solid race, clocking in at 20:57.1 to take 86th place in the state.
On the men’s side, Giovanni Barajas represented Santa Ana and finished with a time of 21:02.7 for 15th place in the race. Barajas came just short of medaling but had a dominant season, winning three of the nine races he ran in.
The Dons did not qualify to race as a team but are set to bring back a handful of runners for the 2020 season.
MEN’S SOCCER TEAM LOSES IN SECOND ROUND OF REGIONALS
Despite being shorthanded due to injuries down the stretch of the season, the eighth seeded Santa Ana men’s soccer team put up a good fight against No. 1 Mt. San Antonio in a the CCCAA SoCal Regional Second Round.
Both teams were held scoreless with not many offensive opportunities until Mt. SAC took advantage of a three on one break to take a 1-0 lead at the 89 minute mark.
With the lead in hand and just about a minute left to play, it looked like the Mounties were going to get out of the second round in regulation. But the Dons made one last attempt to extend their season, attacking the Mt. SAC backline from the start of the whistle.
Santa Ana connected on a few passes until things opened up for freshman forward Gilberto Garcia, who put a shot into right corner of the goal, sending the Dons bench into a frenzy and the match into overtime.
The Dons were given 30 more minutes to play their way into round three of the playoffs but after winning a tough first round match on the road against Santa Barbara and playing another grueling 90 minutes against an undefeated Mountie team just three days later, Santa Ana didn’t have enough to finish strong.
In overtime, Mt. San Antonio got off a few early shots and scored around 15 minutes in. Santa Ana tried to push for another equalizer to send the match to penalty kicks but the Mounties were able to hold them off for a 2-1 victory.
The loss put Santa Ana’s record at 11-7-4 as the Dons ended their season in the second round of the playoffs for the second consecutive year.
WOMEN’S SOCCER TEAM LOSES IN REGIONALS
For the second straight match, the Santa Ana women’s soccer team was forced to go on the road and play 120 minutes against a quality team as the 19th seeded Dons (11-8-3) faced the No. 3 seed in Santiago Canyon (14-3-3) on Saturday afternoon in round one of the CCCAA SoCal Regionals.
Time expired after 90 minutes of action, sending the two teams to overtime where neither could pull ahead in the extra 30 minutes.
The match then went to penalty kicks. But the Dons couldn’t knock off SCC for another upset, failing to make more shots than the Hawks and ending their season in the first round.
Santa Ana finished the season with an 11-8-3 record and its first playoff appearance since 2009.
MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM DEFEATS RIO HONDO 66-62
Santa Ana men’s basketball team held off the Rio Hondo Roadrunners (2-5) for a 66-62 win on Wednesday, Nov. 27.
Seth Githens came off the bench to give the Dons a much needed scoring punch. The sophomore from Canyon High put in 13 points while grabbing nine rebounds in 24 minutes. Freshman guard Nick D’Amato was steady all night as he scored a season high 12 points of 5-of-7 shooting with two assists. And Josh Danque knocked down a couple threes in just nine minutes to give SAC (2-2) another boost off the bench.
-Courtesy Santa Ana College sports information
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