Eagles a win away from state finals
Laney edges San Jose; to play San Joaquin Delta on Feb. 6
Scott Strain
Issue date: 3/4/10 Last update: 3/4/10 at 6:56 AM PST
Section: Sports
The Laney College women's basketball team dug deep within themselves and pulled out a 52-49 victory over San Jose City College on Feb. 26 in the semifinals of the California Community College North Region Tournament in Oakland.
Before a raucous crowd that was celebrating the first Laney basketball playoff game in over 30 years, the Eagles treated their fans to a scintillating come-from-behind win against the 13th-seeded Jaguars.
Now they play No. 5 seed San Joaquin Delta of Stockton at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 6 at Laney. If the Eagles win, they go on to the 16-team State Tournament, which will be held March 11-14 at Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.
Laney is seeded fourth in the North Region and San Jose (18-11) was No. 13 but except for the first three minutes, the Jaguars gave the Eagles a battle.
Laney raced out to an 8-0 lead right off the bat, with Shonetta Crain-Williams scoring five points before San Jose City called a time out.
For the next 23 minutes, it was pretty much all Jaguars. The visitors outscored the Eagles 24-13 in the remaining 17 minutes of the half to take a 24-21 lead.
Crain-Williams had 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the first half and was Laney's only offensive threat.
It got worse for the Eagles in the first minutes of the second half. San Jose scored 10 straight points and when Torey Walker hit consecutive 3-point shots, the Jaguars held a 34-21 lead with 15 minutes, 27 seconds left in the game.
At that point Laney had only scored 13 points in 23 minutes.
Then the Eagles slowly began to crawl back. After Laticia Booker's steal and layup, Laney found itself down 34-31 with 11:16 left in the game.
At this point, the Eagles' pressing defense was exerting pressure on the San Jose guards, creating turnovers and easy transition baskets.
But the Jaguars held off the Eagles for more than six minutes until Crain-Williams scored with 4:08 left to tie the game at 38-38. At the 3:40 mark Walker, who had scored 15 points up to that point, left the game with an ankle injury and did not return.
Crain-Williams scored 12 seconds later for 40-38 and the Eagles had the lead for good.
Crain-Williams led Laney with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Booker finished with 11 points.
Before a raucous crowd that was celebrating the first Laney basketball playoff game in over 30 years, the Eagles treated their fans to a scintillating come-from-behind win against the 13th-seeded Jaguars.
Now they play No. 5 seed San Joaquin Delta of Stockton at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 6 at Laney. If the Eagles win, they go on to the 16-team State Tournament, which will be held March 11-14 at Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.
Laney is seeded fourth in the North Region and San Jose (18-11) was No. 13 but except for the first three minutes, the Jaguars gave the Eagles a battle.
Laney raced out to an 8-0 lead right off the bat, with Shonetta Crain-Williams scoring five points before San Jose City called a time out.
For the next 23 minutes, it was pretty much all Jaguars. The visitors outscored the Eagles 24-13 in the remaining 17 minutes of the half to take a 24-21 lead.
Crain-Williams had 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the first half and was Laney's only offensive threat.
It got worse for the Eagles in the first minutes of the second half. San Jose scored 10 straight points and when Torey Walker hit consecutive 3-point shots, the Jaguars held a 34-21 lead with 15 minutes, 27 seconds left in the game.
At that point Laney had only scored 13 points in 23 minutes.
Then the Eagles slowly began to crawl back. After Laticia Booker's steal and layup, Laney found itself down 34-31 with 11:16 left in the game.
At this point, the Eagles' pressing defense was exerting pressure on the San Jose guards, creating turnovers and easy transition baskets.
But the Jaguars held off the Eagles for more than six minutes until Crain-Williams scored with 4:08 left to tie the game at 38-38. At the 3:40 mark Walker, who had scored 15 points up to that point, left the game with an ankle injury and did not return.
Crain-Williams scored 12 seconds later for 40-38 and the Eagles had the lead for good.
Crain-Williams led Laney with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Booker finished with 11 points.
Be the first to comment on this story