SCC North Still A Tough Course For Women's Basketball

It's becoming a broken record. The Pasadena City College women's basketball team takes a lead, plays 40 minutes of hard-fought defense, and in the end--it's not enough. The South Coast Conference North Division has taken its toll on the Lancers with a 54-51 loss at Los Angeles Trade Tech on Friday night.

PCC, ranked No. 12 in the latest CCCSIA State Top 20 Rankings, fell for the second time against No. 14 LA Trade Tech. The Lancers are 18-7 overall, but just 2-4 in the state's most difficult conference. 

Against Trade Tech (20-5, 4-2) is in third place in the division while No. 1 Mt. San Antonio and No. 3 East Los Angeles are tied for first at 5-1 each. PCC is tied for fourth place with Chaffey going into the team's next contest--Coaches v. Cancer Night against Mt. SAC on Wednesday night at Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium. Game time is 7 p.m. following the men's contest.

PCC led 19-15 after one quarter and 32-29 by halftime. But in the second half, it was the Beavers who clamped down on both post and neutral zone defense and did just enough on the scoreboard. LA Trade Tech got ahead by as much as 10 in the fourth quarter before the Lancers cut the deficit as time finally ran out.

Forward Ilianna Blanc used her medium outside shooting and hit a few turnaround jumpers in the post as part of her game-high 20 points. She added eight rebounds and three steals while making 9-for-19 from the field. Guard Jelissa Puckett was 10-for-13 from the free throw line and totaled 12 points. Julissa Aguirre played well off the Lancers bench with seven points and eight rebounds. 

Janae Turner led Trade Tech with 15 points while PCC held down the Beavers' top scorer Kendra Williams to just seven points. Trade Tech forced the Lancers into 27 turnovers.