Short-handed women's basketball team falls to Fullerton in home opener

The Warriors came out of the locker room with only six available players in its home opener matchup against Fullerton due to injuries.

With the incredible disadvantage, the Warriors still competed against the strong Fullerton squad.

Despite the team’s best efforts, El Camino women’s basketball suffered a loss in their first home game of the season to the Fullerton College Hornets 17-71 in a hard-fought battle on Friday, Nov. 10.

Fullerton came out aggressive on the defensive end, sending a full-court press as soon as the Warriors won the tip.

The pressure from the Hornets gave the Warriors a lot of trouble, making them turn the ball over 32 times.

The Hornets ended the game with 22 steals, which included forward Xochitl Hood stealing five.

“I feel like we should definitely work more on press breaks,” Warriors guard Yumika Sugahara said. “That’s something that we try to work on, but it’s really hard when it comes to having less people [on the team].”

El Camino guard Yumika Sugahara driving into the paint for a layup attempt passing up one of Fullerton's players during Friday's game on November 10. (Caleb Smith | The Union)

The Warriors didn’t score their first point until the 4:24 mark in the first quarter, when guard Harmony Warren made two free throws.

The Warriors scored one more basket in the first quarter, entering the second with a 21-point deficit.

The second quarter saw better defense from the Warriors. Letting up five points through the first four minutes, the shots on the other end of the floor weren’t falling.

The Warriors were seemingly looking for a spark to get them going, but could not get into a rhythm.

The Hornets started to find their groove again in the second quarter. They scored 10 unanswered points going into halftime, up 42-8.

By the time the third quarter rolled around, the Warriors players were gassed from playing the majority of the minutes in the first half.

El Camino guard Teena Ponce taking her attempt at the free throw line during Friday's game agisnt the Fullerton Hornets on November 10. Warriors would lose the game 71-17. (Caleb Smith | The Union)

Warriors guard Teena Ponce gave her thoughts on the matchup.

“Definitely numbers on their side, we’re a little short this season, and we get fatigued really fast [due to our lack of depth],” Ponce said.

The Warriors continued to fight through fatigue and kept competing in the third quarter.

Neither team scored a basket until the 5:33 mark, when Ponce hit her first jumper of the night.

El Camino guard Teena Ponce going for a layup attempt passing up two of Fullerton's players on the way to the basket during Friday's game on November 10. (Caleb Smith | The Union)

Even down by over 30 points, the Warriors squad never threw in the towel.

“Our girls play so hard all the time and they battled all the way through,” Women’s basketball coach Steve Shaw said. “They didn’t allow the scoreboard the affect their approach to the game, and they kept pushing.”

Heading into the fourth quarter, the Warriors knew they had to be more aggressive on the offensive end by driving hard to the paint and forcing the Hornets to foul.

The Warriors shot 12 of their 19 free throws in the fourth quarter, converting on five of them.

El Camino guard Yumika Sugahara taking her attempt at the free throw line during Friday's game on November 10. (Caleb Smith | The Union)

However, their late-game aggressiveness fell short, and the final score favored the Hornets, 71-17.

The game’s key factors were missed shots and turnovers. El Camino had 32, while Fullerton had 17.

The Warriors had a field goal percentage of only 9% throughout the game.

Looking to move past this loss, El Camino aims to secure their first win of the season against Citrus College on Nov. 15.

“We’ve played [Citrus] the last few years and they have a new coach this year, so it’ll probably be a little bit of a different system,” Shaw said. “We’ll watch game film and come out on the practice floor and focus our attention on preparing for that game.”