Flying High: Women’s team just a win away from entering the postseason
The season for the Bakersfield College women’s basketball team was filled with a promising start and an exciting run for the Western State Conference title.
The women’s team currently has a 15-12 record and 7-3 in conference play. They also have gone undefeated at home in the regular season for the first time ever. Their play at home and throughout the year is what has them on the verge of a conference title.
“I’m happy that we’re first in the conference, but I’m a lot happier that the team is playing hard and everybody’s all in toward that goal,” said BC coach Paula Dahl.
The team has gone through some tough situations, like losing both forward Madison Tarver and forward Gabi Morales. Despite all the barriers, they still have found a way to keep winning consistently.
“I’m happy the way they have been working hard and the fact that we’re in first makes it even better. We play as a team, we give it our all and no matter what we never give up. This season has been phenomenal and we’re an exciting team to watch. As long as we just continue to play hard and take every game at a time we will be fine.”
If BC wins their final game at West L.A. on Feb. 18, then they will win the conference title even if Canyons wins.
Broken Spirits: Close losses after promising start doom season for men’s team.
Bakersfield College men’s basketball season started with a promising start, but throughout the year they suffered some tough losses.
This year’s team had some good perimeter players and good interior players, but right before their opening game they lost freshman center Taevanwe Morrison.
“The season has been a disappointment, since we had some high hopes,” said BC coach Rich Hughes. “It started with the season ending injury of 6’8 Taevanwe Morrison the week before season started, and got worse from there,” he said.
“I don’t really know why the season turned out how it did, but I will say that the four areas that hurt us the most were defensive lapses, rebounding, turnovers and shot selection.
Despite the key injury to Morrison, BC got to a quick start going 2-1 in a tournament at Cuesta and finished second place at the Thanksgiving Renegades Classic.
They entered Western State Conference play with a 6-8 record, but from then on things just started to get a lot worse.
The four areas just became more blatant in conference play because the games were a lot closer. They also had some close games when they just weren’t able to make clutch free throws.
“We need to be more physical on defense because I think defense and rebounding has been our Achilles heel,” said Hughes. “We also need to start to make our free throws.”
Their inconsistency on the defensive end really hurt them this year and it held them from putting together more than a two-game winning-streak.
“This season has been very up-and-down, and we just can’t seem to put consistent victories back-to-back.”
They’ve had some bad losses, but they’ve lost some close games that could’ve gone either way. Six of their 16 losses they’ve lost by five points or less, including both games against the number two team in the state, Citrus.
“We’ve had some tough losses. A few plays here and there and the games might have been different entirely,” he said.
Probably a moment that signified their season was when they lost to L.A. Valley 67-65 in overtime on Feb. 8.
BC had a three point lead with 22 seconds left and L.A. Valley had to foul, but the Renegades turned the ball over which led to the Monarchs making a three-pointer to send the game into overtime. In overtime the Monarchs took a commanding six-point lead with 45 seconds left. BC got within two, but couldn’t make a last second shot.
Hughes added that the bright spot is they lost a lot of close games with a freshmen dominated team.
“We should have everyone back barring injury or grades. I think our freshmen improved greatly during the year, and should give them confidence going into sophomore year.
The team has struggled to get consistent wins, but they’ve had some big games through the season from players like freshman forward Conroy Lester, who’s leads the team in scoring with 12 points and five rebounds per game, but his numbers are higher in conference play with 15 points and eight rebounds per game.
Their final game of the year will be at West L.A. on Feb. 18.