A historic Hancock College women's basketball season came to an end in the second round of the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Southern Regional Saturday night.
No. 7 Glendale (24-5) beat No. 10 Hancock (21-9) 55-50, the same score Hancock beat Glendale by when the teams played at Glendale Dec. 21. Glendale beat Hancock 64-54 at Hancock's Joe White Memorial Gymnsium Dec. 9.
Though the Bulldogs saw their season end Saturday night, the 21 wins the Bulldogs racked up under first-year coach Andre Scott were the most for a single season in program history and marked the first time a Hancock women's basketball squad won at least 20 games in a season.
Hancock finished second at 9-3 behind Moorpark in the Western State Conference North Division and beat No. 23 Southwestern 77-69 at Hancock last Wednesday night in the first round of the regional.
Two good defenses played to form Saturday night. Glendale shot 35.8 percent (19-for-53) from the field to Hancock's 32.8 percent (19-for-58).
However, the Vaqueros were 7-for-15 on 3-pointers compared to 3-for-10 for the Bulldogs, and therein lay the difference.
Glendale reserve Megan Delgado went 3-for-5 on 3's en route to scoring 11 points. Starter Tori Delacroix connected on two of her three 3-point shots.
Faith Boulanger led Glendale with a game high 17 points. She made all six of her free throws. Maite Yamada scored 15 points for the Vaqueros.
Sophomore guard Alexandria Paquet led the Bulldogs with 15 points on six-for-13 shooting form the field. Hancock reserve Giselle Calderon scored nine points.
Paquet pulled down a game high seven rebounds, and India Dowling-Green, Mallory Branum and Chloe Blankenship all had six for the Bulldogs, who out-rebounded the Vaquerios 36-31.
Hancock 9, Los Angeles Pierce 0
Hancock starter Luke Kovach gave up just two hits in his six innings of work, and the Bulldogs (9-5, 3-0) completed a three-game sweep of the Brahmas (3-11, 0-3) at Hancock's John Osborne Field Sunday to start their Western State Conference North Division campaign.
The unusual Sunday game came about because of a re-schedule from Saturday because of prior heavy rains in the area.
Kovach, a left-handed Cabrillo High School graduate who signed with Cal Poly before the season started, struck out 13 and walked just one. Dylan Pavletich (two innings) and Elijah Bobo (one) finished up for the Bulldogs on the mound.
Six Bulldogs drove in at least one run, and Elijah Pascual, Isaiah Hernandez and Niko Pecskovszky had two RBIs apiece. Pascual went 3-for-4. Bridger Coleman had two hits and drove in a run.
Hancock out-scored Pierce by a total of 29-10 in the series. The Bulldogs are slated to host Moorpark Thursday at 2 p.m. in a WSC North game that was re-scheduled from Tuesday because of prior rain. Â
Kenny Cress is a sports reporter for the Santa Maria Times, covering local sports in northern Santa Barbara County. You can send information or story ideas to him by emailing it to KCress@SantaMariaTimes.com.
