Season Preview: Women's Basketball - Five Questions

by Cerwin D Haynes

(Vazquez photo courtesy of FIBA WBLA)
(team and player photos by Sophia Priebe)

Entering his 19th season as head of the East LA College women's basketball program, Bruce Turner is eager to turn a quick page from a rare off-year turned in by last season's team.

From the looks of his current roster so far, it appears he's worked dillingently to reload the team to return to playoff basketball. With nine freshmen joining seven returning returning sophomores, here are five questions that will help shape how this season's team will fare in their request to return to the postseason.

1. How will Salvadorean League member and PCC-transfer Lupe Vazquez fit with the Huskies?
   
   
   Vazquez, who's journey to ELAC is documented here, is an accomplished scorer locally and overseas. The Cantwell Sacred Heart of Mary product and 2020 East LA Sports Scene Player of the Year led Pasadena City College in scoring two seasons ago, averaging almost 28 points per game. Coach Turner encourages his players to shoot it if they're open, so one would imagine Vazquez may very well have the opportunity to put up scoring numbers similar to her stint at PCC and be the type of scorer the team can lean on in close games.
2. Will the Huskies have good leadership within the team?
   
   
   In speaking with Coach Turner during the summer, he spoke about how last season's team did not gel the way he expected. It was a team of mostly freshman, and the team's youth seemed to play at a disadvantage. Looking at the current roster, it appears Turner has injected the group with more leadership. G/F Destyni Heard, PG Aliya Contreras and SG Adrianna Solorzano were key players of the 2021-22 playoff team, and after missing last season, all three are set to return to the Green. They'll join returning sophomore F/C Sasha Capers; all four players - along with the traveled Vazquez - will be expected to provide leadership to the team. How well they're able to do so will be key to the Pack's mental fortitude, particularly when conference games begin in January.
   
   
3. Can the Huskies' bigs bang with the best?
   
   Having the right size to patrol the paint on both ends of the court and gobble up rebounds will provide a great anchor to Coach Turner's offensive and defensive plans. Capers will have help down low with freshman newcomers Asiah (Asia) Harris (5'11) and Aiyana Zavala (5'10). Harris didn't play in the team's lone scrimmage last week versus Bethesda, but Turner believes she'll have a major impact in ELAC's paint presence.
   
    
4. Will the Huskies have good depth and maintain it?
   
   Last season, East LA entered the season with 11 players, although it should be noted that Coach Turner is used to being shorthanded at different points throughout the past few seasons.
   This season, ELAC begins its campaign 16 deep, their largest starting roster size since 2016-17. Perhaps not incidentally, that '16-'17 team went 28-3.
   Having a quality bench that can balance the starters' minutes is huge for keeping key players healthier later in the season.
5. Will the Huskies return to the 3C2A Playoffs?
   
   Naturally the biggest question. Expectations are fairly high that they will, as they begin this season ranked 21st in the CCCWBCA State Top-25 Preseason Poll.
   
    

East LA will begin their season tomorrow evening versus Citrus College at Riverside City College's "Second Annual Title IX Tip Off".