Defending State Champion Mt. San Antonio put an end to #1-ranked Pasadena’s unbeaten season with an emphatic 69-56 win in a matchup of the two best teams in Southern California in an SCC-North showdown Friday night in Walnut.
Entering the game, Pasadena boasted a perfect 28-0 record while 27-1 Mt. SAC’s only loss this season was to Pasadena last month at PCC. And Mt. SAC was the 2006 California State Champion, the second time in three years Mt. SAC won the state title. The marquee on Grand Ave. read ‘The Big Game”, and the matchup certainly deserved that billing.
Once the game got started, Mt. SAC showed it was intent on defending its home floor and evening the series. Perhaps they were inspired by the enthusiastic cheering of the women’s softball team. In any case, Mt. SAC jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a basket by Tay Hester five seconds into the game after Chari Smith cleanly won the opening tip.
Mt. SAC extended the lead to 7-2, but then Pasadena stormed back behind the strong inside play of Kieisha Phelps. The 6-2 center from Oakland scored 8 of her team’s first 10 points to tie the game at 10.
But then Mt. SAC opened a 16-10 lead on a basket by Jazlyn Davis and a basket and a pair of free throws from Romeka Randolph. Christina Reeder scored for Pasadena to cut the lead to 16-12, but then Mt. SAC scored the game’s next 14 points to take a 30-12 lead. Hester scored the last 4 points of that 14-0 run.
Pasadena’s Tamiko Rounds made a pair of free throws to stop the run with 5:13 left in the half, making it 30-14. But then Mt. SAC SG Sam Cardeno drained a three to make it 33-14. Phelps then scored 5 straight points to help PCC close the gap to 14 at 33-19, but then came another Cardeno three to make it 36-19. After a Phelps free throw made it 36-10, another Cardeno three pushed the lead back to 19 at 39-20 for Mt. SAC.
As the half wound down, Pasadena got a pair of baskets from Morgan Bennett to cut the Mt. SAC lead to 15 points at 39-24. But then Mt. SAC’s Tanisha Braxton was fouled attempting a 3-point shot with 10.5 seconds left before halftime. She made two of the three awarded free throws to push Mt. SAC’s lead back to 17 at 41-24 at the break.
When the second half began, Pasadena began to chip away at the lead. A bank-shot basket by Rounds, a steal & basket by SG Jeanine Deno and a basket by Bennett after a steal by Deno got Pasadena back to within 11 points at 41-30 less than two minutes into the half. Then after a driving lay-up by Mt. SAC’s Sahfiya Brown, Deno scored consecutive baskets for Pasadena to get the margin into single digits at 43-34. A turnaround jumper by Phelps cut the lead to 8 at 50-42. Then Phelps cut the lead to just 6 points at 50-44 with a pair of free throws with exactly 9 minutes left. And then Phelps scored after a nice pass from Bennett to bring Pasadena to within 4 points at 50-46.
But after that basket, Phelps was whistled for a technical foul, and Mt. SAC’s Tonicia Tademy made both free throws to make it 52-46. And Brown scored on a putback to push the lead back to 8 at 54-46. But Pasadena rallied again, cutting the lead back to 4 points after a pair of free throws by Adriana Tovalin (on Hester’s 4th foul, which sent her to the bench) and a basket by Bennett on a feed from Tavalin. Then Bennett made the first of two free throws to make it a 3-point game at 54-51 with 5:20 left.
However, that would be as close as Pasadena would get. Smith scored a pair of baskets for Mt. SAC, sandwiched around a free throw by Pasadena’s Bennett, to push the lead back to 6 at 58-52. Then Brown scored on a putback to make it 60-52. Then, Pasadena’s Deno was called for traveling after a struggle for the ball, and her protest of that call resulted in a technical foul. Tademy again sank both technical free throws to make it a 10-point game at 62-52 with 3:07 left. A free throw by Davis made it 63-52 with 2:13 remaining.
And this time there would be no Pasadena rally. A basket by Florence Wilson after a rebound made it a 9-point game at 63-54, but that was as close as Pasadena would get. Two free throws each by Brown and Tademy sealed the win and ended Pasadena’s quest for an undefeated season.
For Mt. SAC, it was a balanced scoring attack. Hester had 14 pts, Cardeno had 12 (4 threes) and Brown had 10. Brown also had a team-high 7 rebs. Smith had 9 pts, 6 rebs and a pair of blocked shots. And Tademy had 8 pts, all in the second half and all on free throws in the final 8 minutes.
For Pasadena, Phelps had a huge effort with game-highs of 22 pts, 10 rebs and 3 blocked shots. But she was the only Pasadena scorer in double figures. Bennett and Rounds each had 8 pts while Tovalin and Deno had 6 pts each. Tovalin added a game-high 5 asts. Deno had a rough shooting night, going 3-for-14, but did grab a game-high 4 steals.
Both teams are now 28-1 overall and 4-1 in the SCC-North, making playoff seeding extremely difficult for the playoff committee. And no one should be surprised if these teams meet once more this season, perhaps on March 11th in Fresno in the state championship game.
Friday, February 2, 2007 – 5:30 pm
At Mt. San Antonio College, Walnut
SCC-North Division (Women)
Pasadena 56:
1-Adriana Tovalin, PG – 2/4 fg, 2/3 ft, 2 reb, 5 ast, 2 pf, 6 pts
13-Kieisha Phelps, C – 8/14 fg, 6/9 ft, 10 reb, 3 ast, 3 blk, 2 stl, 4 pf, 22 pts
20-Morgan Bennett, PF – 3/4 fg, 2/6 ft, 5 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 3 pf, 8 pts
22-Tamiko Rounds, SF – 3/9 fg, 2/2 ft, 6 reb, 2 ast, 4 pf, 8 pts
25-Jeanine Deno, SG – 3/14 fg, 0/2 ft, 2 reb, 2 ast, 4 stl, 3 pf, 6 pts
10-Yolonda Johnson, F – 0/3 fg, 1 reb, 3 pf, 0 pts
11-Florence Wilson, C – 1/1 fg, 3 reb, 1 blk, 1 pf, 2 pts
23-Christina Reeder, G – 1/2 fg, 1 reb, 1 stl, 2 pts
32-Niauni Brown, F – 1/1 fg, 1 pf, 2 pts
21-Reia Shapiro, F – 0 pts
team rebounds: 9
Totals: 22/52 fg (.423), 12/22 ft (.545), 39 reb, 13 ast, 3 blk, 8 stl, 21 pf, 56 pts
3-pt fg (0): None
Technical Fouls: Phelps, Deno
Turnovers (25): Tovalin 6, Rounds 4, Reeder 3, Phelps 2, Deno 2, Johnson 2, Wilson 2, Brown 2, Bennett, team
Mt. San Antonio 69:
3-Sam Cardeno, SG – 4/8 fg, 2 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl, 1 pf, 12 pts
10-Tonicia Tademy, PG – 0/3 fg, 8/8 ft, 3 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl, 3 pf, 8 pts
23-Sahfiya Brown, PF – 4/6 fg, 2/2 ft, 7 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 3 pf, 10 pts
32-Tay Hester, SF – 6/8 fg, 2/6 ft, 1 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 4 pf, 14 pts
33-Chari Smith, C – 4/10 fg, 1/3 ft, 6 reb, 2 blk, 1 stl, 1 pf, 9 pts
22-Jazlyn Davis, G – 2/11 fg, 2/4 ft, 1 reb, 2 ast, 2 pf, 6 pts
42-Romeka Randolph, F – 1/5 fg, 2/2 ft, 3 reb, 1 ast, 3 pf, 4 pts
21-Tanisa Braxton, F – 2/3 ft, 1 reb, 1 stl, 2 pts
44-Myra Lealaitafea, C – 1 pf, 0 pts
24-ZsaZsa Lawson, G – 1 ast, 1 pf, 0 pts
25-Adrienna Hooks, F – 2/3 fg, 2 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 3 pf, 4 pts
31-Janae White, G – 1 ast, 0 pts
team rebounds: 7
Totals: 23/54 fg (.426), 19/28 ft (.679), 33 reb, 12 ast, 3 blk, 8 stl, 22 pf, 69 pts
3-pt fg (4): Cardeno 4
Turnovers (18): Davis 6, Cardeno 3, Tademy 2, Hester 2, Smith 2, Randolph 2, Brown
Halftime Score: Mt. SAC 41, Pasadena 24
Updated Records: Mt. SAC (#2-South, #3-Calif) 28-1, 4-1 in SCC-North; Pasadena (#1-South, t-#1-Calif) 28-1, 4-1 in SCC-North
Mt. SAC led by as many as 19 in the first half. PCC rallied to cut the margin to 3 at 54-51 with 5:20 left but then Mt. SAC pulled away again.
