On Feb. 17, the women’s basketball team took on Sacramento City, looking to extend their eight game winning streak.
The Mustangs have a 23-5 overall record (12-1 in conference).
This game was no different with another display of desire towards excellence in an easy 76-41 victory.
The mustangs got off to a quick 7-0 lead and reached 13 points in four minutes before Sacramento City even scored a basket.
Being led by Sophomore Guard Selina Moore, the Mustangs rushed with a fast break offense continuing the pounding and increasing the lead to 27-5, 10 minutes into the game.
Sacramento seemed incapable of limiting the perimeter shots keeping the team off balance the entire first half.
A major contribution to the defensive dominance has been the bench play of 5’9” freshman Krista Buligon, feeding off the physicality and speed of the team on the floor as a unit.
Such physical defense comes with fouls, and the Mustangs sure racked them up tallying six in the first 12 minutes of play enabling a lot of free throw opportunities for Sacramento City.
Often beginning from a full court defensive approach, forcing their opponents to play hard even crossing half court.
The first half ended with the Mustangs holding a 37-18 lead and 10 fouls.
The second half consisted of a slower offense, controlling the clock and maintaining the lead with far less fouls.
After the game, coach Gina Johnson said assistant coach Gibson, “has been working with the bigs to improve the physical play down low.”
Now with only one game remaining in the season, the Mustangs are tied with Diablo Valley in the Big 8 Conference and currently rank 7 in the state as of the February 16 CCCAA Polling.
Coach Gina Johnson also spoke about the season claiming to be “excited” for the improvement and consistent dedication and desire to “get better as a unit.”
Safe to say this is evident with the solid consistency the team has shown, even amongst the natural flaws and errors each game inherits, and fighting through every possession to beat you from the perimeter and underneath the rim.
The seeding for the post season is decided after Feb. 20.
Hopefully for the mustangs this will be the beginning of a deep run through all regionals.
They possess the speed and defense to do so, and not to forget the quality perimeter shooting by Sophomore Selina Moore averaging 14 points a game and Freshman Natalie Delgado averaging 8.8 per game and shooting at 30 percent from the three point line.
The team’s next home game is at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 20.