Women's basketball heads to state final
Peron and team advance to seventh straight Final 8 tournament
Hannah Leyva
Posted on: 3/10/10 Section: Sports
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The Lancers (25-4), ranked No. 4 in the South region, were led by sophomore guard Kim Smith, who scored 23 points on 7-12 field goal shooting in 37 minutes of play against the fifth-ranked Tigers. She also grabbed six rebounds.
The score was close throughout, with four lead changes and four ties recorded in just the first 10 minutes of the game.
The last 10 minutes of the first half were dominated by Riverside until PCC tied it at 26-26 with three minutes to go on a made free throw by freshman guard Anna Shahinian.
The teams went into the locker rooms with the Lancers up by a point, 34-33.
After both teams were scoreless in the first two minutes of the second half, PCC went on a 10-2 run in the next five minutes, extending their lead to 44-35. Six of those 10 points were scored by Smith.
The Tigers answered with a 7-2 run of their own to close the gap to 46-42 with a little over 10 minutes left in the game.
From then on the game went back and forth, with Riverside forward Samera Dorton sinking two free throws at the 3:14 mark to tie the game at 54-54.
But that was the last time the Tigers would give PCC a serious scare. The Lancers ended on an 11-2 run to seal the game and ensure a spot in this weekend's state tournament.
In addition to Smith's game-high 23 points, the Tigers were also hurt by the discrepancy in free throw shooting.
The Lancers converted 26 of 36 shots from the charity stripe, a 72.2 shooting percentage. Smith, who shot 9-13 from the free throw line, single-handedly fared better than the visiting team, who posted a 33.3 percentage on 6 of 18 shooting.
No Riverside player scored more than 10 points. Dorton led the way in rebounding with 12, while guard Gloria Thomas controlled the offense with seven assists in addition to her 10 points.
Freshman forward Dominique Scott matched Dorton with 12 rebounds of her own and was the second-leading scorer for PCC with15. Guard Stephanie DeFrance recorded a team-high four assists.
On Thursday afternoon the Lancers will begin the final phase of their defense of last year's championship.
As the fourth-ranked seed, they will face the No. 1 seed from the North region, City College of San Francisco (26-3).
The Rams, who are entering the tournament on a 12-game winning streak, will be looking to avenge their loss to PCC in last season's championship game.
If the Lancers advance, they will play on Saturday afternoon in the tournament's semifinal round.
The state championship game is set to tip off on Sunday at 1 p.m.
All games will be played at Gilbert Arena on the campus of California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.
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