photo by Mike Daly
REDDING, Calif. – The Shasta College women's basketball team lost to College of the Siskiyous 65-61 at home Saturday to become even with the Eagles atop the Golden Valley Conference with one game left to play.
Shasta ends the regular season at Lassen College on Wednesday while Siskiyous travels to Feather River. A win will clinch at least a share of the GVC championship.
Knights' sophomore Jordan Martinez buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key to cut it to a two-point game with 4:03 remaining. But Shasta wouldn't score the rest of the game, failing to convert on five opportunities to either tie or take the lead down the stretch. Siskiyous snuck in a layup off an inbound pass from Kacey Cain with 17 seconds left to put the game out of reach.
"I told the girls 'I can't come out and be mad at you like you didn't work hard or play hard," Shasta College coach Jerry Brown said. "We had a chance to win it and didn't get it to fall. They played their butts off and sometimes it doesn't go in."
Freshman Justyse Cooper led the Knights with a double-double, turning in 22 points and 15 rebounds. She scored 10 of the Knights' first 12 points and had 17 at halftime, dominating inside to combat Siskiyous' hot shooting from 3-point range. Siskiyous made eight 3s in the first half to build a 38-34 lead at the break.
Mari Fernandez and Jordan Martinez combined for 17 points in the third period, knocking down back-to-back 3s to give Shasta a 44-40 lead. Cooper later made a jumper to lead by one but Siskiyous rolled off a 7-0 run to regain the lead for good.
Siskiyous led by two entering the fourth quarter and pushed its lead to 63-58 after two layups from Natalie Karlsson. Martinez pulled up for a 3 to cut it to a two-point game with 4:03 left but the Knights couldn't get another point the rest of the way.
Shasta had five chances to tie or take the lead in the final minutes of the fourth quarter but Fernandez was called for a charge, Cooper and Terra Crawford missed around the rim inside, Kayla Bonomini couldn't get a 3 to fall and Cooper's pass to Bonomini went out of bounds for a turnover.
Siskiyous worked the shot clock down to 5 seconds, got an inbound pass under the hoop and Cain's layup sealed it.
"We were worried about the outside shot there and stepped out to guard that and she slipped in to get it," Brown said.
Fernandez scored 14 points to go with five assists and five steals and Martinez added 13 points.
The Knights honored six sophomores in Fernandez, Martinez, Rylee Smith, Carley Copello and Bonomini in the final home game of the year.
Shasta College 65, Feather River 47
The Knights beat the Golden Eagles on the road on Thursday. Shasta led 28-19 at half and kept pace the rest of the way.
Four Knights scored in double figures with Fernandez leading the way with 19 points, Bonomini scored 16 points on 5 of 10 shooting from 3, Martinez had 12 points and eight assists and Cooper added a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
GVC Standings
Team GVC, Overall
Shasta 7-2, 14-10
Siskiyous 7-2, 17-7
Butte 4-4, 10-11
Lassen 3-4, 14-10
Feather River 3-6, 12-11
Redwoods 1-7, 6-15