SCC Extends Streak by Beating Concordia

Southern California College secured its hold on first place in the Golden State Athletic Conference, defeating second-place Concordia, 62-56, in women’s basketball Tuesday night at SCC.

The victory extends the Vanguards’ home winning streak to 31 games and gives them a two-game lead over Concordia (14-10, 7-4). Concordia falls into third place behind Azusa Pacific, which defeated Cal Baptist Tuesday.

Freshman guard Kelly Boeke sparked a second-half comeback by SCC, scoring 15 of her 18 points and helping her team rally from a 29-25 first-half deficit.

“Boeke played a great game,” Coach Russ Davis said. “She did a lot of things for us in the second half, things we weren’t getting done in the first.”

Davis’ game plan for the Vanguards (21-7, 9-2) was to get the ball inside to Boeke and Sara Herkenhoff. But with Concordia playing zone defense in the first half, SCC started sinking three-pointers from the perimeter. The Vanguards made five of eight first-half threes and built a 21-10 lead with 9 minutes 40 seconds left in the half.

Concordia then switched to a man-to-man defense, forcing seven Vanguard turnovers in the last nine minutes and closing out the half with a 19-4 run.

“We knew we didn’t play good in the first half,” SCC guard Alana Kempton said. “But, we were only down by four, so we weren’t worried. We just came out and played our game in the second.”

Center Priscilla Bendik, who finished with 16 points, jump-started the Eagles’ first-half rally, hitting three consecutive shots to pull her team within 23-16. And freshman guard Taryn Commins finished it off, making three steals and scoring four points in the final five minutes. Commins led Concordia with 22 points, 11 rebounds and five steals, playing all 40 minutes.

Kempton sealed the victory, scoring six of the Vanguards’ last 11 points. Kempton finished with 11 points and eight rebounds and Herkenhoff had nine points and 10 rebounds.