The College of the Canyons Cougars were in first place in the Western States Conference South going into this game with their 4-0 record. No one doubted that it would take everything the SMC Lady Corsairs had in them to beat this team. It would be a hard-fought game no matter what.

It turned out to be a fast paced game. In the first period the Cougars jump to an early 5-0 lead. Maye Danganan scores the first two baskets for the Corsairs, and with 15:56 left on the clock the score was 8-4.

Then the Corsairs turned-up the pressure, kept the Cougars at bay, and scored two points on their next possession followed by another two points as a results of a steal. It took less than 40 seconds for the game to be tied.

Then the tide turned. The Cougars were now scoring with virtually every possession. The Corsairs were turning the ball over uncharacteristically. With 13:17 to go in the first period the score was 17-10.

Momentum seemed to shift when the Meghan Duron steals the ball, takes it down the court, shoots and misses the field goal. Cougars get the ball and are taking it back down the court when Duron steals it again and passes it to Karlia Batalla. Batalla makes the two-pointer and the score is now 21-14, Cougars.

Canyon fails to score on their next possession and Batalla gets the rebound. Batalla passes the ball to Rayshandra Ray. Ray passes to Ebony Sissac. Sissac passes back to Ray and takes a three point shot, but misses. Danganan gets the rebound and passes it to Sissac. Sissac passes it to Danganan. Danganan shoots and misses. Ray gets the rebound and gets entangled with Ashley Wakefield of Canyons and turns the ball over.

In a later series Batalla passes to Danganan. Danganan passes the ball to to Jewell Morris. Morris passes to Danganan. Danganan is trapped by three Cougars, so she passes to Audriel Wyrick. Wyrick takes the shot – it's good for three points; score is now 23-17 Cougars. Cougars get the ball back. Wyrick steals the ball and on a fast break toward the goal she is called for carrying. It was a horrendous call – an utterly incredulous call.

The Corsairs keep chipping away at the Cougar lead by getting the turnovers and by preventing them from scoring. With 19 seconds left in the first period, the Cougar lead had dwindled to two points: Cougars 29, Corsairs 27. This was an upset in the making; until the second period began.

It is always easy to see what went wrong the day after a game. It is hard to pinpoint the other team's strategy during a game. If the Cougars did not have a plan, then then coincidence is a more powerful force than meets the eye.

Among the Corsair's best weapons are Danganan and Zimmerman. Danganan was double and triple teamed several times during the second period resulting in her scoring far fewer points than her normal 20 plus. This probably was the Cougar plan. Zimmerman fouled out of the game during the middle of the second period. This might have also been part of the plan because no other Corsair stepped up to fill in the gap. By keeping Danganan and Zimmerman from scoring, all they had to do was maintain the lead.

This worked because throughout this period the Corsairs could not make a basket for love or money. Each shot would either hit the rim, or partially go in just to spin about the rim and fall out. Worse yet, the turnovers and the inability to get the rebounds after a missed shots killed the Corsairs. They threw the ball away at least five times due to poor passes or because someone was not where they should have been at the right time.

The opposite was true for the Cougars.

During a seven minute interval in this period the Cougars outscored the Corsairs 14 to 7. By the time there was only 4:14 left on the clock, the Cougars were leading 69-42. The Corsairs never led during the second period and the two point margin going into the second half was the closest they got to the Cougars. The Cougar's Enchantee Merriman led with 13 rebounds; Ashley Wakefield had nine. Britney Bradley had 20 points and Arielle White and Charity Smith had 17 points each.

No stats were available for the Corsairs.

This proved to be too much for the Santa Monica Lady Corsairs; they lose by a score of 77 to 45 to the undefeated, 5-0 Cougars, who are in first place in the Western Conference South Division. Santa Monica is fifth with a 2-2 record.

Assistant Coach, Danny O'Fallon said that the first half was a good, tight game, and that being down by only two points, the ladies had a good chance of winning the game. He was proud of the team's effort. “As much as we are coaches of this team, we are fans of this team. We complimented them at the half and told the team to sustain what we did in the first half to win,” he said.

The coach knew this was going to be a hard game. “I think there were a couple times [in the second period] where we lost focus Usually Canyon is the perennial team to beat in the conference. We don't gauge ourselves to them, but it is always a good game between us,” he said.

Coach O'Fallon remains optimistic about winning the conference. “We just came off a two game winning streak, even though we made our climb up the conference ladder a little more difficult with this defeat, he said. He believes a 10-2 season is possible and would net the Lady Corsairs the Western Conference South Division title.

Let's hope the good coach is right.