Women’s basketball breezes by Hancock

For the second game in a row, the Pierce College women’s basketball team posted 100 points on an opponent, Allan Hancock College being last night’s victim as the Brahmas blasted the Bulldogs 100-51.

Sophomore center Tiara Richardson paced the offense with 23 points while guards Tessondra Williams, Delia Rouse, Bridget Jenkins and Kim Rodriguez joined her in double-figures.

For Jenkins, it was her first game action since her collision with an Oxnard College player which resulted in a bruised nose Wednesday night, and with 13 points, she did not appear to have missed a beat.

“I went out there with a mentality of ‘nothing’s wrong with me,'” she said. “Otherwise it would have brought my game down. Basically, if I get hit again it’ll be broken, but it’s not, so we’re going to play with it.”

Pierce head coach Jim Couch claimed to have full confidence in his sophomore, inserting her into the starting lineup without hesitation.

“As soon as I saw her touch the ball, I knew she was going to be 100 percent,” he said.

As for the game, the Brahmas never trailed as they posted an 11-0 run to begin the game and never looked back. Jenkins capped the opening run with a three-pointer, her first score of the game.

Coupled with the tremendous display of offense throughout the night, Pierce went into lockdown mode on the defensive end, allowing their lowest opposing point total since the season opener when they demolished Los Angeles Trade Tech, 109-28.

“I don’t think there’s a team in the state that can stop us as long as our kids can play a little defense,” said Couch on a facet of the game he has stressed since day one.

But last night’s victory may have been the beginning of something even more significant that offensive or defensive numbers. According to Richardson, it was the Brahmas’ coming-out party as a basketball team.

“In the beginning, I was saying we need to play more like a team, and we’re finally starting to play like a team,” she said. We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses so we are figuring out how to play with each other and learning to trust each other as a team. If we continue to play like this, nobody can stop us.”

In fact, in the midst of a stretch run, the star center is as confident as anyone that her team has the chemistry to succeed.

“We’re about to take it all the way,” she said. “There’s no team that can stop us. We can only stop ourselves.”

With seven games remaining in the regular season, Pierce (3-2 in conference) sits in third place in the Western State Conference North Division, trailing Santa Barbara City College (4-2) by half a game and first place Ventura College (5-0) by two games.

The Brahmas travel to fourth place Cuesta College Wednesday at 7 p.m. and then gear up for a bout at conference-leading Ventura on Feb. 4. Pierce defeated Cuesta 72-59 back on Dec. 5 during the Cuesta Tournament.