Redwoods women and men fall at home to Lassen

Women's Results

In their first conference home game of the season the College of the Redwoods women’s basketball team fell to Lassen Community College 72-61 in a Golden Valley Conference matchup on Saturday night.

Redwoods (8-9, 1-2) put themselves in a 13-2 hole early in the first quarter but rebounded and took a 29-28 lead over Lassen (14-9, 2-2) midway through quarter number two. “We had some first home game jitters, and it took us a little bit to settle down,” Corsairs Head Coach Jain Tuey said.

Lassen tried to exhaust Redwoods early by running full-court press schemes and making frequent three, four, and even five player substitutions to keep their players fast and fresh in an effort to wear out the Corsairs. Through three quarters it seemed Redwoods was able to weather the storm and stay in step with Lassen. Redwoods entered the fourth quarter down just 59-56.

“In the beginning we had a difficult time with the press,” Tuey said. “But I thought we competed the whole game.”

Exhaustion caught up with Redwoods in the fourth quarter. The Corsairs went scoreless through the first six minutes of the fourth and fell behind 70-56 before making their first basket of the quarter. Lassen would outscore the Corsairs 13-5 in the final frame.

Jocelyn Gandara did the bulk of the damage for Lassen, scoring a game high 20 points. Shayla Carrier was a problem for Redwoods throughout the evening, scoring 16 points for Lassen as well.

Four of Redwoods five players broke into double-digits. Alexis Regan led them all with 16 points. Conference scoring leader Sophie Northern had 15 points and her backcourt running mate Bobbie Purify scored 14 points. Taylor Murray had a nice outing as well, finishing with 10 points of her own.

Tuey said postgame that one of the biggest challenges of having no substitutes is getting her players to mentally calm down and stay dialed in while remaining on the court in situations that would normally call for a quick breath and seat on the bench. “We have to learn how to stay focused,” Tuey said. “They know the mistakes, we have to work on them in a timely manner without being able to take a break and think about it.”

Up next for Redwoods is a quick one-game road trip at conference rival Shasta Community College (12-10, 1-3) January 24, at 7:30 p.m.

 

Men's Results

The College of the Redwoods men’s basketball team came up short against Lassen Community College 66-60 on Saturday afternoon in what was the Corsairs first Golden Valley Conference home game of the season.

Redwoods (2-15, 0-3) fell behind double-digits early in the first half. Redwoods, however, regained their composure quickly and rallied in the final minutes of the first half to come within five points of Lassen (6-11, 2-2) and entered the break down 32-27.

Redwoods took the lead early in the second half but could not put any distance between themselves and Lassen. Both teams traded buckets and the lead in what was a closely contested second half.

With under a minute left Lassen’s Unwana Ekiko hit a 3-pointer to give his team a 61-58 lead. On Lassen’s very next trip down the court Ekiko struck again, putting his team ahead 63-58 and all but putting the game away. Ekiko finished with a game high 28 points.

Redwoods’ Dunnell Stafford had a team high 15 points in the loss. Jimmy Garcia had 11 points, and both Tyrice Paul and Cole Maldonado hit double-digits with 10 points a piece.

Redwoods will hit the road for their next game, a January 25 conference matchup with Shasta Community College (12-9, 3-1). The game tips off at 5:30 p.m.