The Lady Corsairs continue their winning ways with a decisive victory over L A Valley Monarchs Saturday night in the Pavilion at Santa Monica College.

The Corsairs are alone in second place in the Western States South Division Conference with a record of 4-2. Citrus and West L A are tied for third place with a record of 4-3. The Monarchs are in sixth place at 1-5.

The Corsairs strike first with a three pointer courtesy of Audriel Wyrick. The Monarchs, undaunted, respond with three of their own from Mariam Asaryan. Then the Corsairs defense shut out the Monarchs and would get 11 unanswered points to take a 14-3 lead only four minutes into the game.

In the next five minutes the Corsairs would see the lead fluctuate to a high of 13 and a low of seven. With just over six minutes left on the clock in the first period, their average lead would be 9 1/2 points. Then a flurry of three-point shots and great defense from the Monarchs narrowed the SMC lead to four points for a score of 29-25.

That would be as close as the Monarchs would get for the rest of the night. At the half the Corsairs led by 12 with a score of 41 to 29.

Going into the second period with a 12 point lead would make most teams chill and coast. Perhaps the Corsairs were, but this game was truly no contest for almost all of the second period.

The Corsairs led by as many as 24 points with 5:58 left in the game. The score was 71 to 47. At this point in a game most teams would start packing and call it a night. But you have to respect the Monarchs because they are fighters. With one minute and thirty seconds to go in the game, they were down by 16 points. With 27 second to go in the game, they were down by six.

In the end, however, the Corsairs score five unanswered points to win the game 80-69

The Corsair's division opener was against the Monarchs in on Jan. 7th of this year. They won that game by a score of 62 to 55 at Los Angeles Valley College in Valley Glen. With the win at home, the Corsairs are on a two game winning streak and sweep the series 2-0 against the Monarchs.

The Corsairs are alone in second place in the Western States South Division Conference with a record of 4-2. Citrus and West L A are tied for third place with a record of 4-3. The Monarchs are in sixth place at 1-5.

After the game, Karlia Batalla, Maye Danganan and Liz Zimmerman all said that the key to the victory tonight was that "we played as a team.” Batalla added “we attacked them the whole time. We didn't let up. We have 14 to their seven players. Our bench has more depth."

Batalla remembered that in the first game against L A Valley that they were trailing by 12 in the first period of the game even though the Corsairs came back to win. She said a team beaten at home is dangerous because it is natural to want even the score.

Zimmerman said that the team worked hard. "We stayed together as a team and stayed focused,"she said. Danganan said "We played well today. We hope we can play like this in every game." As to the reason for the victory, she said "looking inside, rebounding and defense. Our post players are pretty decent."

The Corsairs play the Glendale Vaqueros in Glendale, Calif. on Saturday, Feb. 7th. The Vaqueros handed the Corsairs their first defeat in Conference play at the Santa Monica College Pavilion on January 14th of this year.