Women’s basketball: A Western State Conference – South Division title may be a determining factor tonight in sunny Santa Monica as the Bakersfield Renegades’ women’s basketball team (18-4 overall, 7-3 WSC) travel to face Santa Monica College (17-7, 8-2) with a shot to even it up at the top of the conference standings and even up the season series.

In the previous meeting between the two at Gil Bishop, it was all Santa Monica. The Corsairs forced BC to shoot a conference team-low 27.5 percent (19-of-69) from the field and season-low 11.8 percent (2-of-17) from downtown, giving the Renegades their only double-digit loss this season 73-52.

“It was a very lackluster game,” head coach Paula Dahl said. “They put the screws to us and we panicked and we didn’t react and respond. This game I think they’re pretty determined to not have that happen again.”

The women’s team is also currently riding a three-game winning streak and has found key components to compliment Nakia Page.

After a 73-66 win at L.A. Valley (11-14, 4-6) over the Monarchs on Jan. 31 to cap off a three-game road trip, the Renegades spent the following week here at home with dates against West L.A. on Feb. 4 and Citrus on Feb. 7.

Bakersfield 79, West L.A. 71: Debuting their special edition pink uniforms for cancer awareness month, the Renegades’ women’s hoop team started off nearly as hot as their uniforms against the state’s leading scorer Zhane Carter and the West L.A. Wildcats.

Bakersfield led by as many as 14 points leading up to the five-minute mark in the first half but was cooled off as the Wildcats went on a 17-6 run to close out the half to cut it within one, 32-31.

After shooting 12-for-44 in the first half, the second half was Dahl’s style of basketball: “Defense, rebound, and running.”

Page dominated the glass once again as she did in the previous meeting against the Wildcats posting a double-double (32 points and 16 rebounds) while going 14-for-16 from the free-throw line. Claesey Tarver added 10 points and Khiylah Dean finished with her first double-double of the season with 10 of her own points to go with 14 rebounds.

Defensively, the Renegades did allow Carter to score 28 points but on just 8-for-29 shooting.

“She had to work for her points and we had her pretty frustrated,” Dahl said.

The Renegades finished with a jaw-dropping 77 rebounds, and cruised to a 79-71 victory over the Wildcats.

Bakersfield 67, Citrus 54 (OT): Without Rosebrooke Hunt for the second time this season, it still meant there would be the next lady up to fill in — and sure enough the Bakersfield College women’s basketball team is reluctant to be able to get anyone going on any given night and answer the call.

On Feb. 7, it was Dean who really showed up. Dean attacked the lanes and was very efficient from the floor as she settled for high percentage shots.

Once again however, the Renegades led by 15 with seven minutes to go in the first half but just saw themselves up by seven at half, 29-22.

“We have that tendency in every game [to give up large leads],” Dahl said. “The help defense wasn’t there.”

In the second half, BC began trapping but Citrus kept clawing.

After two lead changes, a tie, and two straight charging fouls by each team in the final two minutes, the game would be determined by five extra minutes where Bakersfield just put the stamp on it.

In overtime, the Renegades scored 10 unanswered points, including some big shots by Marissa Jones who finished with nine points and eight rebounds which eventually led to an 18-point overtime performance by Bakersfield. BC held Citrus to just five points and completed the season sweep of Citrus, 67-54 in overtime.

Dean finished with a team-high 19 points on 8-for-11 shooting off the bench.

“She saved us,” Dahl said on Dean’s performance.

Page also finished with 16 points and 10 boards.

Key Notes: BC suffered their largest loss of the season to Santa Monica at home on Jan. 17 (21 points).

Santa Monica is currently ranked 20th in the state according to the Feb. 9 cccaasports.org coaches poll. This may be a chance for Bakersfield to replace Santa Monica or even be seeded higher in the next poll.

BC is 4-1 on the road in conference play and 6-1 overall but went 1-3 during this upcoming stretch in the first half of conference play.

Currently, the Renegades are tied for second in the WSC-South standings with Antelope Valley at 7-3 (AVC currently owns tiebreaker – next meeting: Feb. 21 at BC).