Eduardo Miranda
The Daily Independent
It was the final preseason home game for the Cerro Coso Coyotes women's basketball team before it heads out to back-to-back tournaments. The Coyotes welcomed Porterville, and after a slow start from the home team, the Coyotes eased past the Pirates in a 92-68 win.
"It was a good team win," said head coach Keshawn Johnson. "I thought we played very fast and attacked the basket downhill and moved the ball very well. Some people came alive and stepped up to help us get one. Good team win, I would say overall."
The Coyotes shot 44.4 percent from the field on 90 attempts, 28 percent from the three-point line on 25 attempts, and 41.7 percent from the charity stripe on 12 attempts. The Coyotes had four players score in double digits with two coming from the bench. Shaniyah McCarthy finished with a double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds with seven on the defensive side. She also had three assists and four steals. Sierra Dixson had 16 points, Alexis Staton had 14 points, and Lia Sims had 12 points.
Cerro Coso finished with 60 rebounds with 31 on the defensive end and 29 on the offensive side. They had 36 assists led by Savannah Rowland with 10, 18 steals led by Gracelynn Rowland with five, two blocks, and 16 turnovers.
In the first 10 minutes, the Coyotes scored 16 points with their first points scored by Iliana Nye on an offensive rebound and layup to tie the game at 2-2 with 8:08 on the clock. But before and for two minutes after scoring the first points, the Coyotes missed multiple layup attempts under the basket from offensive rebounds and drives into the paint. They had wide open shots going inside and out, but watched the ball hit and roll off the rim.
The cold streak ended when McCarthy hit a jump shot for a 4-2 lead.
"We just talked about it a lot. We talked about continuing to battle and I think they did a really good job at that," said the Coyotes coach on the slow start. "We don't get too high or too low in terms of successes or failures. In that moment, missing those shots and missing those layups is a failure – for lack of better words – and our mentality is just respond. And you respond by defending, you respond by rebounding, respond by having good energy for your teammates, etc."
The Pirates scored the next four points to take a two-point lead, but the Coyotes tied the game after a steal and assist from Dixson to McCarthy. The home team then switched its defense to run the full-court press, which forced the visitors to commit turnovers. That allowed McCarthy to score back-to-back layups before Victoria De La Cruz hit a jump shot after a steal from G. Rowland, Sims scored on a baseline jump shot on an assist from Staton, and Staton hit a layup on a pass from De La Cruz for a 16-8 lead after one quarter of action.
"We are athletic, so it's usually the answer a lot of times," Johnson said about switching to the full-court press. "We can play fast, but in terms of execution, it wasn't our best. We had a lot of things to clean up in it. But we are learning and, in my opinion, it was a good opportunity to put it out there and continue to work on it."
The Coyotes started the second quarter with a 9-0 run that began with Skyla Kinsley going one-for-two from the free-throw line. After Dixson grabbed the offensive rebounded, she found S. Rowland, who then found McCarthy under the basket for a layup. S. Rowland stole the ball and scored a layup in transition and then followed that by going two-for-two from the charity stripe. Dixson found Staton for a layup forcing the visitors to take a timeout with 3:37 left in the game and a 28-13 lead for the home team.
The Coyotes closed the half with S. Rowland finding De La Cruz for a layup, G. Rowland stealing the ball and finding her sister S. Rowland for a layup, and De La Cruz dishing to G. Rowland for a layup and a 35-21 halftime lead.
The third quarter began with the visitors opening the scoring with a three-pointer, and the Coyotes responded with an 11-3 run. Dixson hit a corner three on a pass from S. Rowland after grabbing an offensive rebound. After the corner three, Dixson hit back-to-back layups with an assist from McCarthy and S. Rowland, who hit a jump shot on a pass from Dixson. S. Rowland found Shayla Kantarevic for a layup that forced a timeout from the visitors with a 46-24 lead.
After the timeout, the visitors scored on a layup and Cerro Coso responded with G. Rowland hitting a jump shot after an offensive rebound and pass from Staton. The two teams then began to trade baskets with Staton scoring a layup after the Pirates scored on a jump shot. The visitors found their shooting rhythm from the three-point line and traded baskets with the Coyotes that saw the lead cut to 66-51 at the end of the quarter.
The fourth quarter did not have the best start for the Coyotes, who got called for a lane violation on an inbound play. The two teams continued to trade points with Dixson hitting back-to-back-to-back three-pointers for a 75-58 lead. The third three started a 16-0 run to take control of the game. McCarthy made a layup, G. Rowland went one-from-two from the free-throw line, and McCarthy went one-for-two from the charity stripe.
McCarthy scored a layup and a three from the top of the key, Sims made a layup, Staton grabbed the offensive rebound and scored the layup, and she then made back-to-back layups for a 92-58 lead. After the run the Pirates went on a 6-0 run to end the game.
Cerro Coso ends its preseason participating in two tournaments beginning at the San Diego City College tournament on Thursday until Saturday. After the Thanksgiving break, the Coyotes then head to the College of Sequoias tournament beginning on Thursday, Dec. 5, until Saturday, Dec. 7. After the tournament, the Coyotes return home to host Palo Verde to begin Inland Empire Athletic Conference play on Wednesday, Dec. 18.
"Headed into a tournament is the same thing, we talk about it, one day at a time, one possession at a time, one minute at a time," Johnson said on the upcoming tournaments. "For us as we go there, we will scout the teams that we have played, we will prep the same way we have been prepping, and continue to show up with high energy and let the rest fall into the hands of the game. Whatever happens, happens — as long as we empty the tank, we can feel good about it."
