In recent weeks, All-State forward Dariel Johnson has been not as involved in the offense the way head coach Joe Peron would like for his state #13-ranked Pasadena City College women's basketball team. After scoring just 38 points in her last four games combined, DJ picked up her game by matching her season highs in points and rebounds with a 20-20, double-double in the Lancers' 63-54 win at El Camino College Friday night.
Johnson, a 6-1 sophomore, was 8-for-14 from the field, including hitting a pair of 3s. Fifteen of her rebounds were on the defensive end. Letterman guard Merina Latu ended up leading PCC (13-5) in scoring with 22 points. Latu was 10-for-16 from the floor.
Pasadena continues to play without injured starting point guard and team-leading scorer Cosette Balmy, who is expected to be ready to return to action when the Lancers open their 8-game, South Coast Conference North Division schedule on Friday, Jan. 24 v. Rio Hondo. Tip-off is 5 p.m. at Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium. Frosh guard Kaniya Hill has done well in Balmy's absence as she scored nine points and made four steals v. El Camino. Sophomore forward Zaira Velasquez keyed PCC's defense with five of the team's 18 steals plus four points and six rebounds.
The Lancers opened an early 13-2 lead and were ahead, 23-13, after the first quarter. A Latu layup built the lead to 20, 36-16, late in the second quarter. ECC (5-12) mounted a comeback thanks to guard Ashley Nguyen, who scored a team season high of 31 points. Nguyen scored 21 of her points in the second half and her jumper with 6:07 left cut the giant lead to two, 50-48. At that point, Velasquez responded with an outside basket and Johnson buried a 3-pointer. Latu sank a 17-footer that capped an 11-2 run that put the game out of reach.
On Jan. 15, PCC had perhaps its most disappointing loss of the season, 61-45 at Long Beach City College. The Vikings (9-8) limited Johnson to a season-low seven points (she had 17 rebounds). Latu led PCC with 17 points and Hill added 12 points, five rebounds and four assists. Pasadena led 21-14, but LBCC went on a 12-0 run capped on a layup from Isabel Lizarraga for a 26-21 Vikings lead at halftime.
In the second half, the Lancers went cold offensively, making just 8-for-35 from the field (23 percent), and were behind in double digits for most of the final 20 minutes. Long Beach received yet another monster effort by one of the state's top post players in Donavion Huskey, who scored 19 points and totaled 21 rebounds.
The SCC North Division is once again perhaps the best in the state with all five teams in the top 12 in South Region RPI and all in the state's top 22. Mt. San Antonio (15-5) is #5 in South RPI, followed by East Los Angeles (14-6) at #8, LA Trade Tech (13-7) #10, PCC #11, and Rio Hondo (15-5) #12. The combined records of the fab five is 70-28 or a .714 win percentage as all five figure to contend for the conference title.
Johnson is up to No. 25 on PCC's All-Time Scoring List with 660 career points. She needs 28 points to move to the #21 spot and 40 to become the 21st Lancer to reach 700 points in a career.