The San Bernardino Valley College women's basketball team held an eight-point lead after one quarter, and made it hold up as the Wolverines dropped Palo Verde College 50-44 in an Inland Empire Athletic Conference game Friday.
SBVC's early strategy was to pound the ball inside to sophomore Domineek Butler, and it was working, as Butler scored 10 of her game-high 18 points in the opening 10 minutes. SBVC closed the period up 18-10.
The game tightened from there, as Palo Verde worked to chip away at the lead. But SBVC was able to extend it as much as 12, and still had an 11-point lead with 2:17 remaining. But the Pirates scored the last five points to close the final score gap.
After Butler, the Wolverines were led by Destiny Melendez, who scored 13 points with six rebounds and five assists off the bench. Tiyanna Padilla contributed with 12 rebounds in the victory.