On Wednesday night, Kamora Fletcher became just the fourth player in Pasadena City College women's basketball history to score 40 points in a game. The Lancers needed all of her scoring to record a 54-47 road upset at state #23 LA Trade-Tech in a South Coast Conference North Division game.
Fletcher, a freshman forward who earlier this season registered a rare PCC triple-double, put on a clinic in helping Pasadena improve to 13-12 overall and 2-3 in division play. She scored 14 of the team's points to give the Lancers a 15-14 lead after one quarter. She added 11 more in the second as PCC upped the lead to 31-26 by halftime.
In the third quarter. the 5-foot-9 Fletcher poured in all 11 of the Lancers points as PCC maintained a 42-38 advantage. With 36 points after three, she slowed down a bit in the fourth as other PCC players helped out with Celine Bolton-Ford, Paris Ngeam and Monica Menzies combining for eight points. Fletcher's last basket was with 4:06 left on a jump shot.
Fletcher was 17-for-30 from the field, made two 3-pointers and was 4-for-5 at the free throw line, and made three steals on defense.
With three games remaining in the regular season, PCC is right in the thick of possibly qualifying for a Southern California Regional Playoff seed as it currenlty sits #22 in the all-important RPI ratings. Twenty-four teams advance to the postseason.
Fletcher joined elite company in PCC history as the only others to reach at least 40 points:
- Single-game record holder Cara Verga, 48 v. Compton, 1990
- Lupe Vazquez, 44 v. MiraCosta, 2021
- Alissa Shinn, 41 v. LA Trade-Tech, 2018
Bolton-Ford was the next highest PCC scorer v. the Beavers with just five points to go with eight rebounds, adding seven blocked shots to her SCC-leading total of 61, and four steals. Kimberly Dominguez scored four points, Ngeam contributed three points, nine rebounds and four assists, Monica Menzies had two points, eight assists, and Ava Chang didn't score but chipped in four steals. Fighting a nagging injury, Kennedy Jackson also played limited minutes off the bench.
"Kamora basically carried us on her back to win us a big game," said PCC interim head coach Alexa Mirzaian. "She is a special talent and when she puts her mind to it like this game, she has the ability to score at will. We're excited as a team for her to join that 40-point club. Kamora and the rest of our squad did a great job defensively (forced 27 turnovers). Monica and the others were really terrific at getting the ball to the hot shooter."
Trade-Tech (18-8, 3-3 in division) was led by conference-leading scorer Athieng Bol, who made all 11 of her free throws as part of her 24 points. PCC avenged a 58-42 home loss to LATT during the first round of division action on Jan. 23.
MENZIES CLIMBS TO NO. 21 ON PCC ALL-TIME SCORING LIST
Although taking more of a point guard, passing mode as a sophomore, Menzies is still moving up the Lancers All-Time Scoring List as she now has 728 points. She scored 431 points as an All-SCC Second Team selection last season and Menzies has passed 31 players this season to reach #21. Next up for her to catch is Donna Gordon, who totaled 743 in 1995-1997.
The Lancers next travel to face state #1 and SCC North leader Mt. San Antonio on Friday, Feb. 13 in a 7 p.m. tip-off.