With 44 seconds left in the women’s basketball quarterfinals Friday night, sophomore guard Emily Herring stepped up to the free-throw line with a chance to extend Moorpark’s lead to a two-possession game.
All 500 people at the Ventura College Athletic Event Center stared, completely quiet, awaiting Herring as she stepped up to the free-throw line to put away Moorpark College’s fourth-ranked opponent.
The silent crowd watched as the sophomore guard knocked down both shots, leading the Raiders to a 66-58 victory against NorCal’s College of the Sequoias.
“Honestly, I was surprised it went silent,” Herring said. “A lot of times when you’re in games they’re all loud. They try to distract you and throw you off balance and I walked up to the free-throw line expecting that and it made me a little more nervous having it silent.”
But Herring didn’t back down or cower from the moment. She knocked down both free-throws finishing a perfect 8-8 from the line.
After Herring put the Moorpark Raiders up by five points, the COS Giants never found a way to close the gap. Herring’s 16 points were the second highest on her team.
“It’s almost like, the free throw is like the cherry on top,” Herring said.
The number one scorer and overall dominator of the match was two-time Western State Conference North Player of the Year, Barbara Rangel.
She was a force that could not be stopped. Rangel recorded 16 rebounds and scored 21 points off of 12 attempts. It was her 29th double-double of the season and second double-double in these playoffs.
“I had one of my better games today,” Rangel said. “So, I think [my team] was definitely looking more for me today than other days. I was making most of my layups so I think they were like ‘ok if I can’t make it, then we have something that can.’”
The Raiders struggled in the opening quarter, at one point falling behind 20-13.
“I’m not going to lie they made us a little nervous there in the beginning,” Herring said. “But I think our team just needed to adjust and relax and get the nerves out.”
In the third quarter, they also had trouble hitting their shots, shooting a 33.3 field goal percentage for the quarter.
But the Raiders tough defense kept the team in the game long enough to mount a comeback. They held the COS Giants to under 27 percent on field goal attempts for the second, third, and fourth quarter.
College of the Sequoias sophomore guard Janelle Sumilong was the only player to have consecutive success against the Raiders, scoring 19 points on her own. Freshman guard Alaysia Reed helped Sumilong carry the offensive load by scoring 13 points as well. But it wasn’t enough to overcome the No. 1-ranked Raiders.
“We knew at the end of the day that we were going to have to pull away slowly,” Moorpark Head Coach Kenny Plummer said. “We knew they were better than their seeding.”
This was the Raiders’ first win by single-digits all season long.
“We just got spoiled by winning by a large margin of points, but really every day in practice this is what we do, we grind,” Plummer said.
No. 1-ranked Moorpark College (31-1) moves on to play NorCal’s No. 2-ranked Merced College (29-3) Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Ventura College Athletic Event Center.
Outstanding Statistics
Sequoias:
05 Janelle Sumilong: 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, 19 points on 7-14 FGA
11 Alaysia Reed: 13 points
14 Hailey Scott: 8 rebounds, 10 points
32 Dejanee Gill: 9 rebounds
Moorpark:
10 Emily Herring: 8-8 FTs, 16 points
21 Jazzy Carrasco: 6 turnovers, 12 points
22 Breanna Calhoun: 7 rebounds, 7 turnovers, 14 points
42 Barbara Rangel: 16 rebounds, 5 blocks, 21 points on 9-12 FGA
