ELAC "Lady Huskies" Defeat Santa Ana College in State Tournament, 2/25/17

https://youtu.be/HXi5oBYhK7QNote From The Editor: On 2/25/17, in second round play of the CCCAA’s Womens 2017 State Tournament, the #2 seeded East L.A. College “Lady Huskies,“ showed their dominance in their home court victory over the visiting Santa Ana College “Lady Dons.” The final score of this second-round playoff contest would go on to read ELAC 88, Santa Ana 74.

Game Recap: Head Coach, Bruce Turner and his team opened the game with an immediate offensive burst, led by Anastasia Tsybaeva’s seven consecutive points, which staggered their opponent. Much of this success was due to the tenacious full-court zone press that his players applied efficiently and most-effectively, leading to several fast-break opportunities while at the same time providing a momentum booster for the offense to capitalize early, and often in the first quarter. At the end of the period, ELAC led 23-10. By halftime, the “Lady Huskies” had pulled ahead to a 40-29 lead. It was comfortable, but not totally convincing to Coach Turner, who never underestimated his opponent, truthfully because the South Coast Conference’s (SCC) “Player of the Year,” Blaysen Varnadoe, #32, was a member of the Santa Ana “Lady Dons.”

In the second half, the ELAC managed to hold on to a 10-13 point lead, but Santa Ana rallied and crept back into the game, closing the margin to just 8 points with 5 minutes remaining in the game. To close things out and secure the victory, Allissa Gomez dropped in 7 of 10 timely free-throws, many of them coming when Santa Ana had no choice but to foul and stop the clock. However, it was all in vain as the “Lady Huskies” preserved their home court advantage as the #2 tournament seed for this phase of the tournament. At the end of the day, it was too much offensive firepower that propelled the Lady Huskies to the win. Just take a look at the Game Stat Line below, and you’ll see five ELAC players who scored in double figures.

Game Stat Lines: Allissa Gomez, 21 pts (17-22 Free throws); Tiffani Martinez, 17 pts. (5-9) 3 pointers; Katrina Reeves, 16 pts; Anastasia Tsybaeva, 13 pts (6-11 FGs); and Gloria Ortiz, 10 pts.(5-8 FGs) and 12 rebounds (5 Offensive & 7 Defensive) for a “double-double.”

Now it’s time to lace-up the shoes and take on the Pasadena City College “Lady Lancers” on Saturday, 3/4/17 in an “Elite Eight” match-up. The winner qualifies for a trip to the State’s Final Four next week in Northern California. Tip-off is set for 7 pm. It will mark the third meeting of these schools this season. Look for a very competitvie match-up as both teams are quite familiar with each other. However, as Coach Turner replied when asked about…overcoming an opponent for the third time in a season… jinx, “we only have to beat them one time.” Now, it’s time to continue down the Road To The Final Four, taking it one game at a time. Rico Cabrera, Sr./Editor, EastLASportsScene.Com