On Saturday, March 5, Moorpark women’s basketball looked to advance to the state tournament in a matchup against East Los Angeles.

The first quarter saw both teams consistently going back and forth, as neither team was able to gain any serious momentum.

While there were some lead changes here and there, the score ended up being a 16-16 tie at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter saw Moorpark take a more commanding approach, as they were able to secure a 24-16 lead with 5:30 left in the quarter.

Throughout this quarter, Moorpark freshman guard Kaydn Mew had no problem putting the ball in the basket. Overall on the night, Mew finished with 22 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists.

“The main focus was to rebound and share the ball as a team,” said Mew. “They were a lot bigger team than us and had a lot more physicality so the main game plan was for us to rebound a lot and take care of the ball.”

Moorpark ended the first half with a 40-31 lead over East Los Angeles, as they looked to extend their lead in the second half.

Moorpark came out of the gates hot in the second half, as they were able to obtain a commanding 47-33 lead with 6:13 left in the third quarter. They were able to hold this lead until the end of the third quarter, with the score at 54-46 heading into the fourth.

Mew once again proved her dominance on the court with a three-pointer in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter. Moorpark had a 59-53 lead with 3:18 left in the fourth quarter.

However, East Los Angeles was not going down without a fight, as they were able to bring the score to a close 63-60 Moorpark lead with 43.7 seconds left in the fourth. With 26 seconds left on the clock, East Los Angeles sophomore guard Karmyl Gholar was able to sink a three-point shot to tie the game at 63-63. This score would remain the same for the rest of the fourth quarter, which meant overtime was on the way.

Overtime saw little offensive action from either side, as both teams mustered four points each while defense was superb. The horn rang once more with the score being a 67-67 tie, which meant that another overtime was on the way.

The second overtime saw some more offensive aggression, as East Los Angeles was able to drain a quick three-pointer to kick off double overtime. Throughout this stretch sophomore guard, Ashley Orozco was a key component to Moorpark’s victory. She stuffed the stat sheet with 28 points on 9-15 shooting, six assists, six rebounds and a block.

“The main goal for tonight was to get the ball out of their team’s hand,” replied Orozco. “And also to make them shoot the ball more and keep them out of the paint since they were bigger than us.”

Moorpark was able to gain a 78-71 lead over East Los Angeles with 19 seconds left in the contest, which ultimately ended up being the final score of the game.

Moorpark head coach Kenny Plummer spoke on the team’s performance and what they can take into the next game.

“What we tried to do throughout the game was share the ball a lot and play tough and stingy defense,” said Plummer. “The other team had some great shooters and worked well in transition so we also wanted to focus on our rebounding. I’m not sure who we play yet next but I’ll have to re-evaluate the film and prepare for another tough game.”

With this victory, Moorpark advanced to the state tournament where they would face off against Sierra College at West Hills College Lemoore on Thursday, March 10th at 3 P.M.

Moorpark would go on to lose that game 83-53, which brought their season to an end. The Raiders had a great year as they went 24-4 in overall play and 11-1 in conference play but just fell short in the state tournament.