FAIRFIELD – If Solano College had any chance to upset visiting Laney on Thursday night, the Falcons needed to hit their outside shots.
Instead, Solano was more frustrated than travelers at a Southwest Airlines baggage claim.
The Falcons shot just 21 percent from the field and fell to the powerful Eagles, 71-45, in the second Bay Valley Conference women's basketball game of the 2022-23 campaign.
Despite the final score, Solano (6-8, 1-1) was within three points of Laney (11-3, 2-0) early in the third quarter.
"I think the difference was – we just couldn't hit shots," said Falcons head coach Matt Borchert. "We were playing well, we were playing good defense, we were doing OK, but even though we were within three, it's not like we were scoring that well. That's been our issue all season long, so it's not anything new."
Laney responded to Solano with an 11-3 run in that third quarter to break the game open. One of the differences in the second half was Eagles guard Amira Brown, who poured in 18 of her game-high 29 points in the second half. For the contest, she was 10 of 15 from the field and made several acrobatic shots in the lane.
"Even in our zone, (Laney) does a good job, they put her in a high post," Borchert said. "If you can't keep it out of her hands, you're going to be in trouble. We had issues all game long with that, getting someone to play defense there and who knows how to run the offense. It seemed like every time we tried to sub to help our defense, it hurt our offense and vice versa."
Freshman Julia Wright led the Falcons with 12 points on 5 of 10 shooting. Sophomore Meldoy Rafan added 11 points and hit three 3-pointers – part of a 8-for-52 night for Solano beyond the arc.
Solano played well defensively in the first quarter as the Falcons led 10-6 out of the gate as Jaslyn Woods set up Wright for a 3-pointer at the 3:02 mark. However, Laney's Tay Birdtail (12 points) answered with a 3-pointer of her own, and the Eagles grabbed the lead when Semie Brar (13 points) connected from beyond the arc. Laney led 14-11 after a quarter.
Solano grabbed the lead back at 19-17 midway through the second quarter when Rafan banked in a 3-pointer. Unfortunately for the Falcons, that was the final time they led in the contest. Birdtail's 3-pointer ignited a 12-2 spurt for Laney to finish the first half as the Eagles led 29-21 heading into the locker room.
Wright's put-back early in the third quarter cut the lead to 29-26, but the Falcons wouldn't get any closer. The Eagles led 48-36 at the end of the period and didn't give Solano any chance of a comeback in the fourth quarter.
Despite the loss, Solano held Laney dead even in the rebounding department (55-55). Woods had a team-high 10 boards. Wright, Jade Dickson and Genesis Ernie-Hamilton each had seven. Dickson had three blocked shots as well.
Borchert didn't mind playing Laney early in the conference slate.
"They're really good, and they're going to get better," he said. "Three of their best players didn't even play tonight. You play them when you play them. … I thought we did some good things. We held them to 15 points below their average."
Borchert has 398 career wins as head coach. He could get to 400 next week with games against Marin and Merritt.
No comments:
Post a Comment