SANTA CLARITA, Calif. – The College of the Canyons women's basketball team rallied from and 18-point deficit in the final regular season game of the year, but ran out of gas in the final minutes and was edged by Allan Hancock, 75-72, on Saturday afternoon in the Cougar Cage. With the loss, Canyons drops to 13-14 overall and 7-5 in the Western State Conference, North Division, while the win brings the Bulldogs to 13-14 on the season and 3-9 against conference opponents.
Sophomore forward Keiona Mathews led the team with 35 points in addition to a team-high nine rebounds and three steals. Aiding in the Cougar's play was sophomore guard Shawn Kolani, who finished with 19 points, 10 assists and three steals. Freshman guard Amber Evans contributed six rebounds and forward Nayiri Aslanian dropped five points.
After scoring the first points of the game, the Cougars offense went silent as the Bulldogs scored the next seven consecutive points. Canyons would come back and tie it up at 7-7 at the 16:14 mark, to only see Allan Hancock go on a 26-8 run and take a 33-15 lead with 5:41 to play in the first. Canyons gained a little ground to finish the half, but found themselves in a 13-point hole, 42-29.
Canyons came out hot in the second, opening the half with the five consecutive points. The Cougars continued to roll and went on a 16-7 run spanning five minutes to close the gap to five points, 58-53, with 11:00 to play. With 1:58 to go and down, 75-64, Canyons made a run, scoring the final eight points of the game, but the surge fell short.
For the game, the Bulldogs shot 50 percent (17-34) while Canyons was 38.5 percent (23-57) from the floor and 17.2 percent (5-29) from the 3-point line.
The Cougars now await their playoff fate. The seedings for the 20-team field will be announced on Monday, Feb. 24.
