Slow Start Ends Women's Basketball Season in Sweet Sixteen

The MSJC women's basketball team saw their season come to an end on Friday night in the CCCAA Southern California Regional Final as they lost on the road to LA Trade Tech 89-73.  The Eagles concluded their season as conference champions with an overall record of 24-7. (Michael Frazier/MSJC)
The MSJC women's basketball team saw their season come to an end on Friday night in the CCCAA Southern California Regional Final as they lost on the road to LA Trade Tech 89-73. The Eagles concluded their season as conference champions with an overall record of 24-7. (Michael Frazier/MSJC)

The MSJC women's basketball team started off slowly on Saturday night and could never recover as they lost a CCCAA Southern California Regional Final at LA Trade Tech 89-73.

The Eagles opened the game with a 4-0 lead, but quickly saw the Beavers score 11 straight points on their way to a 34-20 lead after the first period. MSJC had a hard time slowing the Trade Tech fast break in the first 10 minutes and the deficit proved to be too much to overcome despite playing the final three quarters nearly evenly.

Alyssa Walton, the Player of the Year in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference, led the Eagles on the night with 25 points. The Beavers had a hard time stopping Walton on the block, but applied enough pressure on the perimeter to make things difficult for the Eagle guards. Sharonda Edwards had a double double in the loss for MSJC as she scored 16 points and grabbed a game high 11 rebounds. Haylei Janssens also reached double figures in scoring with 12, but came up short of a double double as she pulled down 8 rebounds. Despite out rebounding Trade Tech 55-32, the Eagles couldn't seem to rattle the Beavers, a team they had beaten 8 straight times over the past four seasons.

The Eagles, who were looking for their fourth Elite Eight appearance in the past 7 years and were the defending State Champions, finish the season at 24-7. The Beavers who will take on San Joaquin​ Delta in the State quarter-finals improve to 28-4. MSJC finished the season as the unbeaten champions of the PCAC North Division and were playing in their 13th consecutive post-season.