Photo by Cassandra Serrano
Photo by Cassandra Serrano

Tigers Tame Jags in Back and Forth Affair

It was a tight-knit ball game from start to finish as the Riverside City College women's basketball team played host to the Southwestern College Jaguars on Tuesday night. It was a one-point ball game entering into the final seven minutes of action, but the Tigers maintained control. They went on a 14-2 run midway through the fourth quarter to seal the deal by the final score of 80-70.

Southwestern leaned on a shifty offense and clutch long range shooting, but so did the Tigers down the stretch. After Riverside's lead was trimmed down to one point, they went to work; specifically down low. Sophomore Neveah Manning drew a foul and hit two free throws to start the streak, backed by a layup from sophomore Maxine Najera. Manning followed with two more layups to keep the run churning.

Sophomore Marie Diop worked her way to the charity stripe and flushed one of two opportunities to keep the momentum in the Tiger's hands. Sophomore Neiya Hamilton found her stroke from distance by snapping home a three ball, backed by another set of free throws from Manning to grab an 11-point lead.

It was a fairly even battle across all categories aside from the boards. Riverside dominated the paint by outrebounding the Jaguars 51-39. This led to 22 second-chance points.

Riverside carted an impressive 36.4 shooting percentage from long range highlighted by five triples from freshman Makayla Roberts. Hamilton added two, while sophomore Shannon Jordan bucketed one.

Roberts led with a team-high 21 points. She flirted with a triple-double after hauling in seven rebounds and dishing out seven assists. She added two steals in the process. Manning continued to impress offensively as seen in 14 points and three steals, while adding eight rebounds and three assists.

Hamilton was the third player to land in double digits with 10 points to go along with four rebounds and four assists.