SBVC (8-11; 2-0) retained their position at the top of the Foothill Conference by pushing past the Whittier Rio Hondo Roadrunners (9-10; 1-1), 50-41.
SBVC shot the ball 73 times and grabbed 51 boards, with almost every player collecting no less than three total rebounds and freshman forward Nautica Simmons (San Bernardino Cajon) had six huge blocks to go with eight boards and six points on a well-rounded evening.
Freshman starting forward Sydney Gray (Las Vegas, NV Centennial) led the way for SBVC with 14 points on 7 of 12 shooting and sophomore starting guard Ashley Carson (Upland H.S.) put up a double-double, 12 points on 6 of 14 shooting and 10 boards in the victory. Freshman starting guard Jasmine Hickey (Riverside Martin Luther King Jr.) was perfect from the free throw line, going 4 for 4 and freshman forward Christina Tuck (Moreno Valley Canyon Springs) came off of the bench to be almost as perfect, going 4 for 5 from the line.
SBVC took a six-point lead early, then Rio Hondo went on a 14-0 run that gave the Roadrunners a 18-10 lead with 10:13 left in the first half. The home side started to chip away at that lead and within a couple of minutes the Roadrunners lead was down to two-points, by the time each team rolled into halftime, the score was tied at 22-22.
With 16:21 left in the game, both sides were tied for the sixth and final time as the score was tied at 28-28, at which time SBVC started to pull away, slowly at first. By the final seven minutes, SBVC would go on a 12-3 run to close out the game.
SBVC dominated in points off of turnovers, with 24 compared to the Roadrunners four-points and SBVC also commanded on the fast break, collecting 16 points compared to Rio Hondo's two-points. The biggest difference was points in the paint; SBVC scored 30 points in the paint compared to the Roadrunners ten-points.
Information, Photos & Story provided by SBVC Sports Information.
