Vanessa Epperson picked the right night to pour in her season high of 25 points as the Pasadena City College women's basketball team opened South Coast Conference North Division play with 71-66 victory over long-time rival East Los Angeles on Wednesday. The game was played at Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium.
Epperson, a sophomore transfer guard who played last season at Golden West College, upstaged ELAC's sophomore transfer Guadalupe "Lupe" Vazquez, who happened to lead the state in scoring two seasons ago at...PCC.
Vazquez, who owns four of the top 10 single-game scoring highs in Lancers program history, scored nearly half of the Huskies' points as she finished with a game-high 31 points.
But it was Epperson, who was 7-for-9 from the field, including making three of her four attempts from 3-point range who propelled the Lancers in a tight contest from start to finish.
Early on, Epperson drew a foul on a 3-point attempt and promptly sank three straight free throws for a 13-8 PCC lead late in the first quarter. She scored 10 of the team's 14 points in the period and added two steals while Vazquez also scored 10, making a layup at the first-quarter buzzer to tie it at 14-14.
In the second period, a follow-up basket by Abigail Saville gave the Lancers a 10-point lead at 33-23, but the Huskies scored the final nine points of the quarter that made it a 1-point game by halftime.
With PCC ahead 44-42, Antuanae Garrett hit a layup-and-one before Epperson drilled a trey for an 8-point advantage. The Lancers remained ahead 54-49 going into the fourth quarter.
After Vazquez landed a 3-pointer to give the Huskies a 61-60 lead, Garrett regained the lead for PCC on a jumper, then Epperson drove to the basket for a lay-in. A Garrett layup after a steal by Saville was followed by a post basket by Crystal Smith to cap an 8-0 spurt with the Lancers lead, 68-61, and less than two minutes remaining.
Fittingly, Epperson sank two free throws (8-for-14 from the line) with 12 seconds left to cap the conference win.
Garrett finished with 20 points and five assists while Saville tallied 14 points, nine rebounds, three assists and three steals. Lamia Daley added eight points, five boards and four assists while Smith had four points and seven rebounds.
"I think what's impressive is we had three players all in foul trouble with four fouls each going into the fourth quarter, and yet all three played the entire fourth quarter cleanly," said PCC head coach Joe Peron. The Lancers did not commit a single foul over the final 10 minutes.
"Vanessa is a high energy player who can shoot from long range and run the floor. The other thing she does well is draw fouls herself, leading to free throws. Twin (Garrett), MJ (Daley), and Abigail have had some big games themselves, but we needed that spark from Vanessa in this win."
The Lancers improved to 12-8 overall and will host Los Angeles Trade-Tech on Friday, Jan. 26 in a 7 p.m. tip-off at the HP Gym, following the men's game.
