Huskies Overpower Grossmont, Set Up Rematch with Palomar

by Cerwin D Haynes

Utilizing their textbook swarming defense and opportunistic scoring prowess, East Los Angeles College women's basketball overpowered the Grossmont College Griffins 77-39 in Day Two of the Cypress Lady Charger Classic. Forward Maya Clark lead a balanced attack with 12 points on 6-7 shooting off the bench, whiles starting wing Naomi Winston-Ellis had herself a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.  The Huskies are now 9-1 on the season, with a big Day Three tomorrow: a rematch with the Palomar College Comets, who hung an L on the Huskies two weeks ago down in San Marcos.

Trailing 7-3 midway through the first quarter, head coach Bruce Turner called a timeout to get his team more focused on the offensive end. With the defense starting strong, the Huskies needed to move the ball more on the other end to get better shots. ELAC responded: a pair of free throws, two layups, another made free throw and a three-ball powered a 10-0 run for the Pack, taking a 13-7 lead. Another three by ELAC helped them closed the opening quarter up 16-7.

The second quarter saw the Huskies continue their run: sophomore Karmyl Ghomar hit a jumper, Clark scored a layup, and three Sydney Patterson free throws gave East LA a 23-7 lead. Grossmont would break their scoring funk and begin to score more frequently, but the Huskies kept up the pace. Halftime saw East LA up 38-20.

ELAC would slowly stretch the lead in the third, but not without some adversity: things got chippy when double-technical fouls would be called on Grossmont's Imani James and East's Khadijah Henry for "unsportsmanlike language". The referees soonafter began to call the game tighter, with Coach Turner also getting hit with a tech for disputing the refs' calls.  

But ELAC was ultimately undeterred. They used the fourth quarter to have the last word, outscoring the Griffins 22-7 to nearly double-up Grossmont in the final score.

HUSKY BITS

• Grossmont was held to 27.5% shooting for the game; ELAC has held their opponents to under 30% shooting for the season so far.
• Using relentless ball pressure with active feet and hands, the Huskies consistently tipped the ball away from the Griffins whenever Grossmont would drive or pass inside. ELAC tallied 16 steals and five blocked shots to continuously stymie the Griffin offense.
• In addition to the steals, the Huskies outrebounded the Griffins 37-29, including a 16-8 edge on the offensive boards. ELAC would have a 72-51 advantage in total shot attempts thanks to these advantages

UP NEXT:

The Huskies get a shot to avenge their lone loss on the early season when they take on the Palomar College Comets tomorrow. Facing the Comets two weeks ago when Palomar hosted their own weekend tournament, the Huskies struggled with turnovers and controlling the boards to ultimately lose the game 83-51.