Illnesses seemed to find a way to the Brahmas as they dropped their fourth game of the season to the Los Angeles Harbor College Seahawks with a final score of 77-24.
Head coach Thara Innocent explained that many of the players were sick and down for the count for this game, contributing to the disappointing result.
“Mindset was to be competitive and be the best we can be. Do what we can,” Innocent said. “Unfortunately, a lot of our girls were sick and not able to perform to their potential.”
In the first quarter, while the ball spent a lot of time on the Seahawks’ side of the court, the Brahmas simply weren’t making the shots.
The Brahmas tried to mix things up with two substitutions, but three fouls were called on Pierce, resulting in a lackluster score of 28-6 with the Seahawks in the lead by the end of the first quarter.
Innocent emphasized that the program is relatively fresh after a two-year pause.
“We’re gonna get it going. It’s just the first year in, so it’s going to take some time,” Innocent said. “It’s a process.”
The bleachers, while not at full capacity, were primarily occupied by Harbor fans that drove out from LA Harbor College to support their team.
The second quarter opened up with more than two minutes of the score being unchanged. Harbor opened up the action with two fouls in a row, followed by a series of pass interceptions and successful layups. Harbor was pulling ahead in the number of rebounds secured, as well.
Most of the highlight moments seemed to be coming from Harbor’s Jada Turner, who got in the rhythm of stealing the ball from the Brahmas and then sprinting across the court, culminating in clean layups without much resistance.
Assistant coach Efrain Lopez echoed Innocent’s remarks about the team being new and needing to work more on their fundamentals.
“75% of them [the players] are fairly new. So mainly, just learning how to move the ball around,” Lopez said. “We just need to get the bodies in the right place, make the right passes at the right time.”
The third quarter opened up with two fouls called on the Brahmas. With multiple opportunities to even the score due to post-foul free throws, the Brahmas successfully slowed down Harbor’s momentum.
Another evident thing was the almost militaristic approach to coaching from the Seahawks coach. With screaming, shouting, and cursing, the coach did not seem content with the current score and the decisions of certain Harbor players.
The fourth quarter opened up with interceptions from Harbor and a series of missed three-point shots from Pierce. However, a difference in approach was visible while the Brahmas were able to slow down the Seahawks’ momentum even further.
When the Brahmas got the ball, they were slow and methodical as they took their time to get across the court.
Wirh the loss, Pierce dropped to 0-4 on the season. They host Ohlone on Dec. 3 at 3 p.m.
