The Pierce College women’s basketball team lost its third game in a row in blowout fashion against the Eastern Arizona College Gila Monsters in the first game of Pierce’s home tournament on Friday, Nov. 28.
Pierce was never able to establish itself on either end of the floor against the Gila Monsters. The Brahmas were scattered on defense, and the opposing pressure created problems for them on offense.
The Gila Monsters continuously pushed the ball up the court and created fast-break opportunities that the Brahma defenders were unable to keep up with.
Pierce head coach James Couch said that defense was the team’s biggest issue.
“Our inexperience defensively really hurt us,” Couch said. “We couldn’t stop what they were doing even though we’ve gone over it in practice. We’re not very good at it yet, but we will be.”
Pierce forward Adrienne Bailey said that the team has to learn to communicate more on defense in future games.
“We talk in practice, but in games we get kind of quiet. We have to talk. That’s been our problem since day one,” Bailey said. “Today, we played a tough, running team. They whooped our behinds, but every loss is a time to learn.”
The Brahmas dropped to 1-5 on the season after the loss.
Eastern Arizona College head coach Ryan McAdams was content with the way his team performed.
“We shared the ball really well. We’re playing really good team basketball right now,” McAdams said. “But our main identity, other than being a good chemistry team, is playing good defense.”
The Gila Monsters moved to 8-0 on their season after the win over Pierce and will play in the Nov. 29 tournament championship game at Pierce against Los Angeles Trade Technical College.
The L.A. Trade Tech Beavers played after Pierce and defeated the Los Angeles Harbor College Seahawks in another blowout game by a final score of 104-50, advancing to the championship game against Eastern Arizona College.
The Beavers shared the ball well on offense and played strong defense en route to their win. Despite the fact that both teams were prone to turnovers and missed numerous open shots, L.A. Trade Tech never trailed in the game.
Beavers forward Adriana Anderson was a force on the boards, creating multiple second-chance opportunities and tip-in baskets for her team.
“I did a good job on boxing out and helping my team on the boards,” Anderson said. “We have to keep our aggressive mentality and stick to what we do best.”
Harbor College head coach Albert Turner attributed his team’s performance to rust due to a large gap in games in their schedule.
“We’ve just been off for too long,” Turner said. “We haven’t played in like two weeks, so we just have to go out there and play tomorrow.”
Harbor College will play Pierce in the consolation game on Saturday, Nov. 29, with the winner taking third place in the tournament.
Despite the Brahmas’ early struggles this season, Couch said his team could potentially play much better.
“We just have to improve on our defense and our patience. If we can do that, we’ll be a better team,” Couch said.
