The 19th-seeded Knights of San Diego City College jumped ahead by 11 points over 14th-seeded host Pasadena City College as the Lancers were stuck in a lethargy over the first two quarters of their SoCal Regional Playoff Round 1 game Wednesday night. In the third quarter, sophomore Alisa Shinn woke up her team and went on to put together a double-record postseason performance as PCC advanced with a 66-60 victory.
Shinn tied a PCC playoff record with her 35 points (set by three other players) and broke the school record for rebounds in a postseason game with 23. PCC moved to 21-2 in all regional playoffs played at Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium. The Lancers (18-13) have an uphill battle when they travel to face No. 3 seed and state No. 3-ranked Mt. San Jacinto College (27-2) on Saturday, Feb. 24 in a Round 2 game. Tip-off is 7 p.m.
Shinn made 9-of-10 shots from the field and totaled 19 points and nine rebounds in the third period alone as PCC outscored SDCC, 29-11, and took a 51-41 lead. The Lancers didn't take their first lead of the game (35-34) until a layup by Mercy Odima with 5:45 remaining in the third quarter.
San Diego (13-14) had led 30-19 before Shinn completed a basket-and-one with 28 seconds left in the second quarter that cut it to 30-22 by halftime. Shinn had made only 2 of her first 15 shots, but got hot and hit 12 of her final 17 attempts. She was 7-for-10 from the free throw line, and she added a team-high five assists along with two blocks.
While Shinn scored more than half of PCC's points, Jade Lin totaled nine points, five assists and four rebounds while Samaiyah Abdullah added nine points and four assists. Odima settled for six points, five boards, four helpers and two steals.
For SD City, E'maniee Powell was her team's only double figures scorer with 17 points, including three 3-pointers. Angeleah Johnson added seven points, 10 rebounds and six assists. The Knights, the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference South Division champions, actually outrebounded Pasadena, 50-44. But like many teams this season, SDCC could not contain Shinn, who had a field day on put-backs in the second half.
PCC head coach Joe Peron's postseason record improved to 36-19.
"We were asleep in that first half, and I made it very clear at halftime that nap time was over," Peron said. "We had more energy in the third quarter, and Alisa herself did a better job on the offensive boards. San Diego kept after us, especially on loose balls. But we worked hard and built off a really strong 10 minutes in the third."
Shinn is now just six points shy of reaching 1,000 points in her Lancers career. She has 994 points as she passed both Jackie Sadler (1996-1998) and Easter Faafiti (2007-2009) into fifth place on PCC's all-time scoring list.