The women’s basketball team went out with a whimper instead of a bang Feb. 16 in a disappointing 85-48 loss to No. 1 seed Sierra College (25-3, 12-2).
Santa Rosa Junior College’s 37-point loss was its worst performance in an already tough season. Head coach Lacey Campbell’s squad totaled just 13 points off the bench in 87 combined minutes, giving the exhausted starters little support.
SRJC finished with 26 turnovers, a trend that has undone the Bear Cubs (9-19, 4-10) all season long.
This was a rebuilding year for the Bear Cubs after last season’s brief playoff run. The Big 8 Conference provided stiff competition with no easy wins, resulting in five losses of over 20 points for the Bear Cubs.
Losing the last three games of the season-dampened players’ moral but the year did not go without its encouraging signs. Santa Rosa ranked No. 16 out of 90 CCCAA teams in terms of rebounding; thanks to the terrific play of first-year forward Tiffany Salinas who devoured 8.3 boards a night. Salinas finished her campaign fourth in the Big 8 Conference.
The Bear Cubs’ struggles this season often came on the offensive side of the hardwood. They ranked No. 54 in scoring for the California Community College Athletic Association with 58.9 points a game. The team shot for 34.2 percent from the floor, falling into the bottom third in the league. Only first-year point guard Sadie Irvine averaged double digits points for the offense at 12.8.
The team’s assist-to-turnover ratio prevented the offense from gaining any momentum, as evidenced in the season finale. Santa Rosa finished with a measly 11.5 assists per game compared to 21.5 turnovers a game. Point guard Sadie Irvine led the Big 8 Conference in turnovers, finishing No. 11 in the league with 5.2 a game.
Next year, Campbell’s lineup faces another overhaul, with five second-year athletes moving on. Despite having six first-year athletes rostered, only two of them started over 10 games.
A strong recruiting class and a great offseason for the returning women’s players can bring this team out of its rut and back to being the competitive club it was last year.
