The women’s basketball team suffered a 48-point loss against the Delta College Mustangs during Friday’s game.

The Hawks had a monumental task ahead: not only were they facing a regionally ranked team, but most of their players were either injured or hurt.

“We just don’t have enough players,” Hawks head coach Coral Sage said. “Right now, we only have six players and everyone is playing injured at some level.”

In the first quarter, the Mustangs were already looking to put the pressure on the Hawks by running a full-court press. On paper, the Mustang’s press defense didn’t do enough to cause any significant dent to the Hawks’ offense.

“It’s just ball movement,” Hawks guard Trina Shaner said. “When we pass the ball in, we want people to cut to break the press because the ball always moves faster than the defense can run.”

However, the Hawks were unable to knock down their shots overall. They were only able to make nine of their 35 attempts during the first half. On the opposing side, the Mustangs made 17 of their 39 attempts.

“I thought we did a great job breaking their press,” Coral said. “There were only a couple of times we turned the ball over, but we just couldn’t finish on the other end.”

It only got worse for the Hawks in the second half. Their field goal percentage dropped from less than 25 percent on 35 attempts to only 12 percent on 25 attempts. The only thing that kept the Hawks alive was their effort to drive towards the basket and getting fouled.

Hawks guard Brookelyn Larkin was able to produce 10 points of her 25-point performance on the foul line alone.

Despite this effort from the Hawks, they just couldn’t battle the Mustangs when it came to offense and rebounding.

The Mustangs were very efficient and were able to make 44.3 percent of their shots with 24 of them coming from assists. The Hawks were also outmuscled by the Mustangs on the rebound column, with a staggering 21 rebounding differential.

With only a handful of players, the Hawks didn’t have much option when it came to rotation.

“We only got one sub,” Coral said. “So, there isn’t really much of a rotation.”

The Hawks always had to be mindful of fouls when it came to defense, as they did not have enough players to replace a player who was fouled out. That hindered the Hawks to play aggressive defense.

“We were just tired and then we have to worry about the fouls,” Hawks guard Lexi Liddell said.