With the conference title already in hand, the EC women’s basketball team had one more goal to accomplish, finishing the season undefeated in conference play.
It was close midway through the first half but EC was able to open it up with a sequence of defensive stops. The Warriors played tenacious defense and closed the first half on a 22-10 run.
Sophomore forward Sydney Chase (West Torrance HS) led EC in the first half with 11 points and five rebounds.
“We just wanted to end the season undefeated because we are already conference champs,” Chase said. “We rebounded, executed our offense and played as a team.”
EC (20-8, 8-0) closed out the regular season with an 82-52 win over L.A Harbor College (8-17, 0-7). The Warriors are South Coast South-conference champs for the first time since 2005.
“Nice way to finish it off,” coach Steve Shaw said. “We worked so hard to get to the point where we are at and having clinched the championship last Friday, its a little bit of a weird feeling. We want to keep moving in the right direction towards the playoffs.”
EC held the Seahawks to 23 percent shooting from the field and outrebounded them, 62-44. Sophomore forward Shontalene Trudeau (West Torrance HS) registered another double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
“We just knew that no matter what we got from the last game, we just had to keep playing because every game is important,” Trudeau said. “You can never under estimate your opponent so we needed to make sure we came out and played good basketball.”
The second half was all EC as they shot 58 percent from the field and converted eight of 10 from the free throw line. Four players scored in double figures and every player on EC’s roster registered at least one point.
Sophomore guard Nisja Bass (Mayfair HS) finished with 11 points, nine rebounds and four assist. Freshman forward Helena Jones-Caldwel (Inglewood HS) added 13 points and seven rebounds off the bench.
EC heads into the playoffs on a four game winning streak and will look to keep the momentum going. The South-Coast-South-conference champs will wait for the seeds to be released on Monday and will host a playoff game either Friday, Feb. 27 or Saturday, Feb. 28.
“We are excited and we are kind of glad this part’s over,” Shaw said. “We’ll take the weekend off and find out who we play, Monday.
