By Will Hernandez
The East Los Angeles College women’s basketball team lost to the state’s No. 3-ranked Mt. San Antonio College, 75-69, at the Men’s Gym last night. Mt. SAC entered the game undefeated in the South Coast Conference.
“It is a great experience playing at ELAC, I’m very grateful and appreciative of the opportunity that life presented to me,” center Karina Ortiz said.
On Monday playoff seeding’s will be decided. The Huskies are hopeful that they’ll receive an invitation to the dance. ELAC Head Coach Bruce Turner said that there’s a great chance the team will get an opportunity to compete in the playoffs, but probably won’t be playing at home.
Twenty-three seconds remained in the game when Lopez fouled out. Following the game, Lopez rushed out of the arena, and didn’t comment much.
“She didn’t realize that she already had four fouls. She played her heart out and everybody on this team did, but you can’t win it all by yourself,” Turner said.
ELAC’s prime opportunity in the second half, came with 41 seconds left while trailing, 69-64. The Huskies came out of a timeout and guard Kristina Tatikian received the inbound pass, threw up a well-contested and distant three pointer , but the attempt missed. Mt. SAC got the rebound and the Huskies immediately fouled.
The Huskies steamrolled into the game having outscored their last two opponents by 99 total points. The Huskies were already one player down with 10 minutes left in the first half after guard Jasmine Gates re-aggravated her left foot injury she sustained against Los Angeles Trade Tech.
ELAC tied the score once before halftime after Tatikian drained a three-pointer at 37-all.
The highly contested battle between the two conference foes was also highlighted by the sophomore players of East Los Angeles College, guard Dioseline Lopez, Ortiz, guard Angelica Trinidad and forward Alexis Valles, who played in their last regular-season game as a Husky.
