Coyote Athletics : Women's Basketball : Headlines

Cerro Coso rolls past Warriors

By Cheeto Barrera, Sports Editor, The Daily Independent

DAILY INDEPENDENT PHOTO BY CHEETO BARRERA Dar'Shelle Lynch makes a move against a Life Pacific defender during Cerro Coso's 86-68 win on Saturday. Lynch finished the game with 25 points.

Cerro Coso only had to battle for the first portion of the opening half against Life Pacific College of San Dimas with both teams knotted at 12 apiece.

But the Coyotes defense took over allowing the offense to explode with 43 points by half time en route to a 86-68 win Saturday.

And all of this was without forward Angel Lash, who has been a key component to the Cerro Coso game.

“It was a good effort tonight, we played without Angel, her shoulder was really bothering her so we were trying to save her for Monday night,” said coach Tom Heck. “The effort was great. Lynette Dineyazhe is back and that helped out on the perimeter.”

With the win, the Coyotes improve to 13-5 overall and 1-2 in Foothill Conference play coming into Monday night's game against San Bernardino Valley.

In Lash's place, Dineyazhe and Dar'Shelle Lynch delivered a sever one-two punch, with Dineyazhe dominating from the perimeter hitting eight 3-pointers and Lynch finishing with 25 points for the game.

Dineyazhe, behind the 3-point tear including five in the second half, lead all shooters with 28 points.

But both players gave credit to the rest of the team for setting up their opportunities.

“The intensity was high,” Lynch said. “It motivated the whole team to step up and shoot as well and have confidence in themselves and score a lot of points.”

After the game was tied at 12-12, the Lady Coyotes went on a steady diet of scoring with Dineyazhe hitting a trio of threes and the defense holding the Warriors to 18 for the rest of the half.

The Coyotes opened the second half extending their lead to 21 points and then the defense took a nap.

Not aggressively going after rebounds or pressing like they had at the close of the first half - compounded by turnovers - Life Pacific went on an 11-0 scoring run and came within 10 points of Cerro Coso.

“We started off slow but as soon we got our intensity, we picked up and started working as a team to stop their pressure,” Dineyazhe said.

Led by Natasha Smith who had 27 points on the night complemented with 12 boards, Life Pacific cut the lead to 57-47 before the Coyotes offense got back on track and did not let the score get any closer for the rest of the game.

Although Heck said he was pleased with the overall performance of his players, he said he wants to see the defense step up a little more when it faces the stiffer competition in Foothill Conference play.

“I'm still not happy with our defense, and I'm still trying to find some cures for it,” Heck said. “Defensively, were going to have to play better to play with the big dogs of our league.”

The conference features four top teams, including San Bernardino which the Coyotes faced Monday.

“We're going to really have to pick it up, though,” Heck said. “This year our league has four teams that are ranked in the top 15 in Southern Cal. ... We're going to have to really play perfect games to beat these people, but they're all beatable.”

Despite of the kinks in the Coyotes armor, Heck said the opponent - which is in only its second year as a team and has yet to win a game this season - forced some plays and competed through out.

“Give Life credit, they're scrappy and they hit a lot of shots,” Heck said. “If you can hit shots, you can hang in and they hit some shots.”

The Coyotes will begin a three-game home stand starting Wednesday when they host College of the Desert. Tip-off is 6 p.m.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

For more on this story please subscribe to The Daily Independent at: dieditor@ridgecrestca.com