Moorpark women’s basketball continued their historic season by winning their first playoff game in five years on the road against L.A. Valley College 55-45.

“This is the first playoff win that the Moorpark women’s basketball program has had in five years,” Head Coach Kenny Plummer said. “I’m so happy and proud for them to go on the road, which is not easy in the playoffs, and pulling out a win against a really good L.A. Valley team.”

Moorpark College entered the CCCAA women’s basketball SoCal State Championship bracket as the ninth seed facing up against L.A. Valley College in round two on Friday, Feb. 23. The Raiders started this game off quickly by ending the first quarter with an 18-14 lead and even being up by six points. Both teams, after a strong offensive first quarter, stepped up the intensity on defense to go into the halftime break tied up 26-26. After giving up the first two points of the second half, Moorpark scored six straight points to put them ahead 32-28. The Raiders continued to play well during the remainder of the third quarter and went into the fourth with a 38-35 lead. Moorpark was able to raise their play to even another level when they only gave up 10 points and scored 17 points during the fourth quarter to win 55-45. Raiders’ guard Charlyee Amos and the team had a great mindset entering this game.

“We felt really confident going into the game,” Amos said. “We were there to battle, we were there to win and we weren’t going to take no for an answer, we weren’t going to come home with a loss.”

The Raiders, following the L.A. Valley game, had to travel to Palomar, the number one ranked team in California, during the third round of the playoffs. Moorpark forward Kelsea Illengo was not fazed by the pressure entering this contest.

“There is no pressure,” Illengo said. “When you go out there with a let’s have fun mindset, that’s when you play your best.”

Moorpark (22-6), no matter the disparity in their record compared to Palomar (28-1), matched up fairly well with the Comets while finishing the first quarter down by three, 10-13. The Raiders then started off the next quarter slowly while giving up 13 straight points, but they were able to finish the quarter with a six to three run to go into halftime down 18-29. Holding Palomar to under 30 points in the first half was huge for the Raiders’ defense since Palomar was averaging 84.6 points per game this season. Moorpark’s defense was unable to keep up the strong play during the third quarter, however, when they gave up 11 points and only scored two at the start of the quarter. Palomar was able to continue on to outscore the Raiders in the quarter 24 to eight to bring the score to 53-26. The Raiders did step up their level of play during the fourth quarter, but without scoring during the final two-and-a-half minutes of the game, eventually ending the Raiders’ historic season with a 71-42 loss. Coach Plummer believes that this team could do anything if they put their mind to it.

“This team is not just satisfied with being there,” Plummer said. “I have ultimate confidence in my girls.”

Women’s basketball finished their full season with a 22-7 overall record and finished second in the WSC North with an 8-2 conference record.