SANTA CLARITA, Calif. – Four of the five starters for the SDCC women's basketball team were in double-figures Wednesday night as the Hawks won their first GSAC Tournament game since the 2012-13 season.
The Hawks took care of OUAZ, 73-60, in the first round of the conference tournament hosted by The Master's University. The last conference playoff win was an 84-74 win over Concordia University on Feb. 27, 2013.
"So excited for our program to get this win tonight," head coach Shawn Chaffin said. "It was a very balanced effort. I loved the fact that we were able to build enough of margin to rest our starters a lot in the fourth quarter to get ready for tomorrow."
Rest they will need, as the Hawks move on to play No. 2 Westmont College.
Keren Hogue led all Hawks with 13 points and eight boards. Others in double-figures were Maddison Zugna with 12, Madison Beckham with 11, and All-GSAC Isabel Feller with 10.
Right out of the gate the Hawks went on a 9-2 run in a span of 2:30 minutes. SDCC was able to answer a short run from the Spirit to end the quarter up by the same margin of seven, 18-11.
OUAZ was able to put a little pressure on SDCC in the second quarter. Trailing by nine with four minutes to go in the half, the Spirit went on a 14-7 run to bring the contest to four at the break. The two teams started off the second quarter ice cold with both teams making just one basket in the first five minutes.
But the Hawks took control of the game in the third and put away any hint of an upset happening in the first round by outscoring the Spirit 26-8 in the quarter. OUAZ answered in the fourth but it wasn't enough as the Hawks prevailed to take on the Warriors in the next round.
"Credit to Ottawa for playing hard for 40 minutes," coach Chaffin said. "But now we turn our focus to Westmont tomorrow."