Bakersfield College women’s basketball beat Santa Monica despite an injury to a starter and a player losing a contact lens during the game.
BC beat Santa Monica 79-65 on Jan. 28, in order to stay tied for first in the Western State Conference.
BC coach Paula Dahl commented on the game.
“I thought we did great because we had a lot of adversity. Gabi [Morales] got hurt and Jausecca [Cockeral] lost her contact lens, so she was pretty blind.
“We’ve had many troubles and tribulations this year, but we never quit,” said Dahl.
BC got a great performance from freshman forward Brittany Smith, who put up 30 points and 13 rebounds. BC also got 15 points and 14 rebounds from freshman guard Andrea Harris and sophomore guard Cockeral chipped in with 11 points. Sophomore forward Morales also had 16 points before getting injured in the beginning of the second half.
Both teams were evenly matched to start of the game, and with BC just up 14-12, the Renegades were able to go on a 13-4 run to build a 27-16 lead. BC continued to add to that lead as they went into the half with a 39-26 lead.
BC started the second half slow as Santa Monica went on an eight to three run.
“We came out flat in the second half. That’s always a coach’s biggest fear,” said Dahl.
With BC losing Morales to an injury, the Renegades weren’t able to score as efficient as they did in the first half. They were just hanging onto a 59-55 lead, but Smith was able to give BC a boost with them missing two of their starting post players.
“She’s been practicing really hard. I think she’s starting to get in her groove after coming back from volleyball,” said Dahl.
Behind Smith, BC was able to build a comfortable lead, and were able to outscore Santa Monica 20-10 for the rest of the game.
Smith commented on the game.
“I thought we played as a team and we gave it our all. When we lost Gabi we knew we lost a big post player, but instead of giving up we just pushed harder,” she said. “Honestly, I can’t really depict my performance because we’re a team and this was a team win. I still think we can grow from this by doing a better job making our layups, and we won’t just settle here, there’s a level higher that we want to get to.”
Cockeral also gave her thoughts on the game and playing without one contact lens.
“We did pretty good, considering we didn’t have our two post players. I do think we were a little tired to start the second half, but it’s the halfway mark so everyone is a little tired. We just got to push hard because every team is so close in the conference,” she said. “It was difficult playing without the lens, but I still had one good eye. It could’ve been a lot worse.”
Cockeral also said that they need to continue to work hard, be consistent and be ready for anything because like this game anything can happen.
Dahl added that Morales has a high-ankle sprain, but doesn’t think it’s anything serious.
BC’s next game is scheduled to be at Glendale on Feb. 1.