No. 5 Lady Huskies Fall in Overtime to No. 1 Palomar

CYPRESS, CA —  In a battle of Top-6 state powerhouses (Coaches RPI Poll), the No.6 East Los Angeles College women’s basketball team lost 85-78 in overtime to No. 1 Palomar College in the championship game of the 34th Annual Lady Charger Classic in Don Johnson Court at Cypress College.  

The teams battled to a 69-69 tie after four quarters. Palomar opened the extra period with a 10-2 run and led 79-71 with 2:20 left in overtime. The Huskies followed with an 11-3 run and were within four, down 82-78 with 24 seconds remaining, but did not score again.

The Huskies outrebounded Palomar in overtime, 8-5, but didn’t take advantage of that by shooting 33.3 (3-of-9) from the field to 66.7 for Palomar.

ELAC had a hot hand and outshot Palomar in the first three periods and led after each, 18-12, 38-26 and 54-48. ELAC only had four rebounds in the fourth quarter and as a result, Palomar took a 67-66 lead with 4:03 remaining in regulation. Regulation continued with three lead changes and one tie.

Sophomore forward Monica Garcia (Garfield High School) hit two free throws with 59 seconds left in regulation. Palomar missed a layup in traffic at the buzzer.

Two Huskies had double doubles. Garcia scored a season-high 31 points and had 11 rebounds. She leads the Huskies in scoring averaging with 18.8 points per game, which is tops amongst South Coast Conference players. The SCC, one of the toughest in the state, has three Top-12 ranked teams.

Freshman forward Dominique Godbolt (Fairfax HS) scored 17 points and had 10 rebounds for the Huskies, which is her eighth straight double double. Godbolt totals 139 rebounds in nine games, two short of the most in the state. She averages 15.4 rebounds per game, third best in the state.

Freshman forward Mercedes Ortiz (Garfield HS) scored a season-high 16 points and had a team-high five assists. Garcia had a game-high four steals as well as two blocked shots. Sophomore guard Kimberly Peraza (Downey HS) had one blocked shot.

The Huskies next play a home game against Oxnard College (1-8) on Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 6 p.m. It is the Lady Huskies Annual Toys-4-Tots game. Bring a toy for a good cause! Bring a toy valued at $10 or more in place of admission.

Follow ELAC Athletics at http://athletics.elac.edu/landing/index and ELAC Huskies Athletics Facebook.

story submitted by Tadzio Garcia