Canyons Returns Home for 104-80 Victory Over Santa Monica

By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director

Photos by Tim Strong/COC Sports Information

College of the Canyons continued to showcase its high-scoring offense, surpassing the century mark for the second time this season with a 104-80 home win over conference foe Santa Monica College on Wednesday night. The game was COC's first on its home court this season.

COC sophomore Kalana Inemer turned in another strong performance with 21 rebounds, nine assists, two blocks and 16 points. Inemer has now recorded double-digit rebound totals in all but three games this season. She ranks fourth in the state, and first in the conference, with an average of 13.6 per game.

Freshman Maryrose Elias scored a game-high 26 points to pace the Cougars offense on Wednesday, while sophomore Morgan Bizzell added 20 points and nine rebounds off the bench.

Canyons guards Dayna Tanaka and Gissel Sanchez also got in on the scoring barrage with 14 and 11 points respectively. Sanchez also added five assists, three rebounds and two steals. 

CiCi O'Brien finished the game with seven points and eight assists.

Santa Monica forced the Cougars into 24 turnovers, however, Canyons was able to overcome that statistic in part by winning the battle of the boards 52-32.

COC also recorded 12 blocks in the game.

The Cougars shot just under 52 percent from the field, compared to a paltry mark of 38.6 percent for the Corsairs. Despite that inequality, Santa Monica managed to hang with COC's fast break offense in the early going.

Canyons battled to a 28-27 first quarter advantage before outscoring SMC 27-12 in a pivotal second quarter of action. 

Bizzell went 4-for-4 in the quarter resulting in nine points, and also provided a big defensive presence with three blocks. Meanwhile Inemer pulled down eight boards, seven of the defensive variety, to help keep the ball in COC's possession.

The Cougars took a 55-39 lead into halftime and didn't look back in winning their third straight game.

Canyons (11-10, 2-0) is now averaging 99.3 points per game over its last three outings, and currently ranks No. 12 in the state, and tops in the conference, at a rate of 74.8 points each time out.

Santa Monica (7-14, 0-3) has dropped five in a row.

COC will next head into this weekend's road conference matchup with Bakersfield College (8-12, 2-1). The Cougars and Renegades tip off at 3 p.m. on Saturday Jan. 27.

Stay up to date on all this season's action by following the College of the Canyons Athletic department on social media at @COCathletics on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.