The Pasadena City College women's basketball team ended the program's longest losing streak in 30 years at eight games in holding off San Bernardino Valley, 48-47, Saturday afternoon at the patch-worked PCC-Grand Canyon Tournament.
With teams dropping out due to scheduling issues, the Lancers (2-8 overall) decided to play just once in the 3-game tourney, allowing for SBVC and Merritt College to be able to get in two games each.
But the contest proved to be a huge one for Pasadena, a team that is waiting for two of its best players to return from injury after missing nine games thus far.
PCC led 11-5 after one quarter and 23-22 by halftime after the Wolverines' All-Tournament selecton Mo'nikque Lightfoot drained a 3-pointer at the second quarter buzzer. Pasadena led 34-33 when Sheridan Orange drove for a layup followed by a trey by Monica Menzies. The Lancers took a 41-36 advantage into the fourth period, but a Maryanne Palacios bucket gave the Wolverines the lead at 45-43.
Tight defense by both squads made scoring tough over the final seven minutes as Abigail Aguilar buried a jumper to tie it and an Ava Chang free throw regained the PCC lead at 46-45 with 4:20 left. Menzies hit a 12-foot jump shot with 2:13 to go, a basket that proved to be the game-winner.
PCC's All-Tournament choice only scored two points in Paris Ngeam, but the 5-foot-7 freshman forward was a defensive and rebounding force as she grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds, blocked four shots, made four steals, and passed out three assists. Orange led PCC with 14 points (and three blocks), Lyndsey Valverde netted 13 and eight rebounds, and Menzies was also a big factor on 11 points, eight boards, and four helpers.
Chang added fours in points, rebounds and assists while Aguilar tallied four points and five rebounds. The team blocked 13 shots overall and forced 13 steals.
"We finally played a great defensive game," said PCC head coach Joe Peron. "That's been our downfall of late, that we just haven't been strong in that area. But this game, we buckled down in that fourth quarter when San Bernardino made its push. Paris was all over the floor, diving for balls and making key rebounds for us. We desperately needed a win and got it."
Also making All-PCC-Grand Canyon Tournament were Merritt's Ayana Dalessio and Lemoore's Yuliza Padilla. Merritt got past SBVC, 53-51, on Friday and then defeated Lemoore, 53-44, on Saturday.
The Lancers will play three games at the Grossmont Holiday Classic Dec. 18-20, then finish the year 2024 at the San Jose Lady Jaguar Tournament Dec. 27-29. PCC's next home game is a Crossover Challenge matchup v. Cerritos College on Friday, Jan. 10. A 5 p.m. tip-off at Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium.
Coach Pereon with Ngeam accepting her All-Tourney trophy
