Glendale had plans for the Corsairs this past Saturday night.

They had beaten the Corsairs at home only a few weeks ago at the Pavilion in Santa Monica.

Glendale came out hard and drew first blood with a long three point shot. The Corsairs responded with a two point lay up. Then for the next 14 minutes of the game, the lead would vacillate between the Vaqueros and the Corsairs with neither team ever leading by more than four points. In fact, for nine of those 14 minutes Santa Monica would either lead or trail by one point. With just over four minutes left on the clock, Glendale’s plans began to crumble as the Corsairs’ lead increased to six points; than to ten; and then to 12, and as many as 14.

By the end of the first half the Corsairs would lead by 13 with a score of 38-24.

Glendale was not finished though. Again they came out strong at the beginning of the second period and scored five unanswered points off of three Corsair turnovers. It was really looking bad for SMC who saw a 13 point lead diminish to an eight point lead.

Then the Ladies of Santa Monica Basketball do what they do best. They took a time out, regrouped, and began to grind away at the Glendale offense.

It was a rough, tough and exciting game. In one series Glendale’s Amanda Manahan passes to Rachel Estrella who passes to Neyra Valenzuela. Valenzuela passes to Paola Gupilan who tries a two-point lay up and misses. Manahan gets the rebound, tries a two-point field goal and misses. Estella gets the rebound and tries for two and also misses.

Corsair Jewell Morris gets the rebound and passes down court to Maye Danganan who passes back to Morris who passes back to Danganan. Danganan tries for three, but the ball hits and rolls around the rim before it falls out. No basket.

Glendale’s Valenzuela gets the rebound and passes to Estrella. Estrella makes it to about half court when SMC’s Meghan Duron and Danganan double team her to steal the ball. Danganan passes to Audriel Wyrick who passes to Morris. Morris passes to Amanda Gray who goes for a lay up, but the ball bounces off the glass. Glendale’s Valenzuela gets the rebound but Duron knocks the ball away from behind, goes around Valenzuela, recovers the ball, and makes a two-point lay up in full stride.

The whole game was this intense.

The Corsairs would regain their double digit lead but Glendale wanted to make a game of it. With 11 minutes left on the clock they had pared the Corsair lead down to five points. It looked like Glendale was going to come back. But just like the in first period, the end of the second period belonged to the Corsairs. With only four and a half minutes left to go in the game the Corsairs led by 16 points. After this, only once again would Glendale narrow the lead to less than ten points.

The Vaqueros would not sweep this series: plan foiled. Final score: Santa Monica College Lady Corsairs 76; Glendale College Lady Vaqueros 66.

It was a tough loss for Glendale Head Coach Monica Hang. “It was an exciting game. Santa Monica made some big shots and played well. We made turnovers here and there and it cost us the game,” she said.

Corsairs Karlia Batalla said that she thought that the team played well. “We wanted to beat them – they beat us on our home court. They came out strong in the first half but we stuck with it,” she said. Amanda Grey thought that the key to the win was “keeping our calm and not letting things get to us; getting rebounds and watching our passes.” Megan Duron said that “we played together tonight, not like last time. We won because of our defense and playing as a team.”

Assistant Coach Danny O'Fallon said that the team started out cold in the first half but they determined where they needed to improve by the end of the first period. “Our defense put pressure on them and I think that's what turned the tables on them,” he said.

The Corsairs play at Citrus Wednesday night. The Lady Corsairs beat Citrus Owls 82-65 on January 17th of this year at home. Citrus is in fourth place in the conference with a 5-4 record. SMC is in second place at 6-2.

The Owls will be a formidable opponent. The Corsairs are not taking anything for granted. “We have a game coming up on Wednesday that is very important to us. We will just take each game one at a time,” said O’Fallon.