Riverside Stays in Playoff Hunt, Takes Down Santa Ana in OT
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Santa Ana (7-11, 0-3) | 5 | 23 | 16 | 16 | 8 | 68 |
|
Riverside (8-10, 2-3) | 14 | 10 | 19 | 17 | 10 | 70 |
It took an extra frame to decide a winner on Monday night as the Riverside City College women's basketball team played host to the Santa Ana College Dons in Orange Empire Conference (OEC) action. After the Tigers jumped out to a 14-5 lead in the opening 10 minutes, Santa Ana clawed back to end regulation at 60-all.
The overtime period tells the tale as the game was won and lost at the charity stripe with a combined 20 free throws taken. Of the 10 points scored in overtime, 10 came from the floor. A pair of three pointers and a layup coming from Santa Ana and a layup from Riverside's freshman Maxine Nejera.
Riverside made it to the line 12 times in overtime and a total of 41 times on the night. Despite shooting an abysmal 61 percent from the free throw line, the Tigers worked to hit eight of 12 shots from the line leading to a 70-68 win.
The Tigers suffered one of their worst shooting nights from the floor after earning a 26.5 percent mark which included a 9.1 clip from long range.
Freshman Neveah Manning was the catalyst to the Tigers' success down the stretch. She dropped a career-high 28 points with all of her damage being done inside the three-point line. She was strong down low and muscled her way to the hoop, while incorporating a midrange jumper that was falling throughout the night.
Her tough play down low lead to 12 rebounds and six steals to nearly snag a triple-double. She finished with her seventh double-double on the season.
Nejera, who came off the bench, kept the Tigers in the game by dropping 14 points and recording 10 rebounds to earn her first double-double of the season. She was flawless from the line as well by hitting her only two free throws.
Freshman Mya Clark had one of her worst games shooting, but she recorded a season-high and career-high 26 rebounds nearly breaking the single game record set by Head Coach Alicia Berber. Sophomore Regenus Gates dropped 12 points and hauled in nine rebounds. Half of her points came at the free throw line.