Solano Shades Riverside, 86-84, on Late Layins at 38th Annual Gilcrest Invitational

VISALIA -- Building a big lead, only to have it evaporate at the end, the Riverside City College (RCC) Tigers women's basketball team lost a heartbreaker, 86-84, to the Solano College Falcons Thursday afternoon (Dec. 4) in an opening round game of the 38th Annual Tom Gilcrest Invitational Tournament at historic Moro Gymnasium on the campus of the College of the Sequoias.

Solano (3-1 overall) trailed, 50-29, with 3:26 to play in the first half before making a sizable dent in the deficit to trail, 54-40, at halftime.

Riverside (6-3 overall) was able to hang on to its lead for most of the second half before the pesky Falcons took their first lead, 71-70, with 6:17 remaining.

Solano led, 82-76, with 3:09 to play before the Tigers regrouped and eventually took an 84-82 lead with 58.4 seconds left on a pair of free throws by sophomore point guard Tierra Fuqua (Moreno Valley / Rancho Verde HS).

But Solano sophomore forward Laura Lawson (Vallejo / Armijo HS) made the game-tying (84-84) layin with 31 seconds to play and then added the game-winning layin (:02.8) for the final 86-84 verdict.

Lawson finished with 16 points (13 in the second half) and a game-high 14 rebounds. Sopomore guard Nikki Andaya (Benicia / Benicia HS) pumped in a team-high 17 points.

For RCC, sophomore center Tori Mitchell (Riverside / Poly '12) poured in 17 first-half points (on eight of nine shooting) and finished with a game-high 27 points, as well as ten rebounds and two blocked shots. Fuqua had a fine game as well with 16 points, a team-high 12 rebounds, as well as six steals.

With the loss, the Tigers will face the Sacramento City College (SCC) Panthers on Friday, Dec. 5, in a consolation quarterfinal game (of the 16-team tournament) at 2 p.m. in Moro Gym (old gym) SCC was a 65-56 loser to Los Angeles Valley College (LAVC) earlier Thursday. Solano will face LAVC at 2 p.m. in Porter Fieldhouse (newer gym). 

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