Women’s and Men’s basketball swept rival Oxnard in the opening doubleheader of conference play.
The home Western State Conference Northern Division opening doubleheader against Oxnard College Condors on Saturday, Jan. 13, featured a 77-42 Women’s victory, along with a 93-89 Men’s victory, which gave Moorpark College Basketball their first sweep in Conference play this season.
The double header began with the Women’s match-up at 1:00 p.m., where they started off strong. Moorpark ended the first half with a commanding 20 point lead while scoring 37 points, and the Raider’s stingy defense held the Condors to only 17 points. Head Coach of Moorpark College Women’s basketball, Kenny Plummer, was ecstatic at his team’s first half performance.
“I believe our identity as a team is on the defensive end,” Plummer said. “Holding that team down under 20 points, in one half is very important.”
Moorpark took the first half lead and built on it by scoring 40 points in the second half and held the Condors to only 25 points. This resulted in a 77-42 Women’s basketball victory for Moorpark. The story of the game, Barbara Rangel, the Raider’s Center, noticed great play out of her team in this highly anticipated game.
“We definitely had the energy,” Rangel said. “I think just having that mentality helped us, just play really good defense.”
The second half of the double header featured the Men’s game at 3:00 p.m. and this one was nothing short of spectacular. At the end of the first half, the Raiders had a five point lead over the Condors, 49-44. Garrett Bilby, the Raider star of the half, recorded 17 points while displaying a high level of confidence.
“Coach always tells me during practice that I just need to let it go, shoot freely,” Bilby said. “I was just feeling it.”
The second half consisted of lead changes around every corner, which all led to the nail-bitting moment of the game. The score was 86-88, Raiders down by two with just above one-minute left in the game, when suddenly, the Raider’s Guard, #12 Cole Micek, knocked down back to back clutch three pointers to give them the 92-89 lead, following an Oxnard free throw. Micek was not fazed at all from the pressure, he thrived in it.
“I saw that the three was open,” Micek said. “I just stepped up and shot it.”
The final score to this game was 93-89, and the Head Coach of Moorpark College Men’s basketball, Gerred Link, was content with his team’s 1-0 conference record.
“It sounds good. Better than 0-1,” Link said. “We got better today and learned.”
The Raider’s Women’s star of the night was Barbara Rangel who recorded 18 points, 13 rebounds, and 3 blocks, and the Raider’s Men’s star of the night was Cole Micek who recorded 21 points, 4 assists, and 4 rebounds. The Women improve to 14-4 overall, while the Men improve to 8-10 overall, and both teams are now 1-0 in Conference play.
