Women’s basketball team suffers first loss of the season by 37 points
Freshman center Annie Garrison winning the tip-off to start the game against the College of Siskiyous. The game took place at 5 p.m. on Monday at Clark’s Court on the CRC campus.
The College of Siskiyous women’s basketball team beat Cosumnes River College with a score of 73-36 at home on Monday.
The Hawks started strong with back-to-back wins to start the season, but weren’t able to overcome Siskiyous.
“We definitely tried to do the game plan, but we did not do a good job boxing out,” said Head Coach Samuel Kirby. “That was one of our keys to winning this game and we just didn’t box them out whatsoever.”
Freshman guard and team captain Ashley Gonzalez led the team in the first half with nine points from four field goals and one free throw.
Gonzalez was physical throughout the game, attempting to steal, block or assist her team and ended up on the ground multiple times. The passion and effort the team and Gonzalez played with were noticeable, but they fell behind early and couldn’t bounce back.
The Hawks went into halftime down 33-16.
“I felt like we were prepared, but coming out to the court, the mentality just wasn’t there,” Gonzalez said. “Over time, they started getting momentum and we couldn’t take it back.”
Siskiyous continued to maintain momentum after halftime. Starting freshman center Annie Garrison was in for the full second half this time to help CRC.
Garrison got into foul trouble early in the first half and was subbed out. After halftime, she returned and was fouled multiple times, allowing her eight free throw attempts in the second half.
This did not affect the outcome of the game and the Hawk’s took their first loss of the season.
Kirby said that it was a tough loss, but an opportunity for the team to reflect and grow. The team has a new coaching staff and a roster completely filled with freshmen and is trying to build an identity for themselves.
“Failure is the strongest thing in the world and this team in this program is the strongest thing in the world,” Garrison said.
Kirby expressed similar thoughts.
“We needed to be humbled a little bit,” Kirby said. “We were 2-0, but I told these girls two weeks ago, we’re only scratching the surface and this is a good little lesson for us.”