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Seattle, Citrus win at Coso tourney

By Nathan Ahle, The Daily Independent

Citrus College's Nicole Cunningham (22) plays perimeter defense during the first quarter of Citrus' 79-56 win over L.A. Pierce College during the first day of the Coso New Year's Eve Tournament at Cerro Coso Community College Wednesday. Earlier in the day, North Seattle Community College had defeated Cerro Coso 60-49 to earn a spot in today's championship game. DAILY INDEPENDENT PHOTO BY MIKE DELANEY

The Coso New Year's Tournament opened Wednesday night at the Raymond A. McCue Athletic Complex at Cerro Coso College. Playing in front of the biggest local college crowds of the season, two games were played, with the winners earning berths in today's championship game.

The first game of the day was scheduled to be Cerro Coso against L.A. Pierce College. However, L.A. Pierce was late in arriving in Ridgecrest, so the Coyotes took on North Seattle Community College, with Citrus and L.A. Pierce playing the late game of the evening.

Seattle 60, Cerro Coso 49

The visitors from Washington state jumped out early and led the host Coyotes most of the way.

Cerro Coso (4-6) was able to hang with Seattle in the early going, trailing by five at the intermission by a score of 30-25. The Coyotes kept it close thanks to three-point shooting and a "triangle and two" defense.

But in the second half, the team's perimeter game started to slide and Seattle began to pull away. The Coyotes were crippled by poor shooting; the team was unable to score until the 13:11 mark of the half, over six minutes into the period. By that time, Seattle had opened up a nine-point lead and things continued to go downhill for the locals.

"We just got killed on the inside..."

"We just got killed on the inside," said Cerro Coso Head Coach Tom Heck. "We live and die from three-point range and we're in trouble if we don't score from there."

Still, Coach Heck had praise for the visitors.

"They're a pretty good team," he said of Seattle. "They got the second and third chances and we didn't."

Cerro Coso connected on six of 33 three-point attempts in the game.

Sophomore guard Fernanda Yazzie led the Coyotes in scoring with 15 points, followed by Cetra Banks with 10. Stephanie Hart (eight points), Tashena Nelson (seven points), and Candace Poleyestewa and Orlanda Chee (six points each) rounded out the Cerro Coso scoring.

Citrus 79, L.A. Pierce 56

Citrus, one of the more successful teams in Southern California, dominated L.A. Pierce in the nightcap.

The leading scorer in the game was Citrus' Alexis Pope, who led all scorers in both games Wednesday with 26 points.

Citrus will play for the championship against North Seattle at 3 p.m. today, with the Coyotes and L.A Pierce playing the consolation game at 5 p.m.

The tournament's Most Valuable Player award will be selected from the championship team at the end of the first game today. Admission to all tournament games is free.

December 30, 2004

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