IVC women’s basketball dominating in home court tournament
After two days of tournament play, the Lasers have advanced to the championship round, squeaking past the El Camino Warriors 66-65 on the opening day of play, and then rolling over the Rio Hondo Roadrunners 71-51 on Day 2.
Thursday night’s game came down to the wire for IVC, as El Camino freshman guard Kaela Yonemoto missed the potential tying and winning free throws with 0.8 seconds left in the game. In their closest win of the season, the spotlight was on sophomore forward Shomari McCorkle, who put up her second double-double of the season. McCorkle scored a game high 23 points, converting 10 of 19 field goal attempts and three of three free throw attempts. McCorkle also pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds, and tied with teammate Alyssa Simons for a team high four steals.
With the win, IVC improved its record to 5-2 in games decided by three or fewer points dating back to the beginning of last season.
On the second day of the IVC Tournament, the Lasers had a little more room to breathe in the 20 point victory over the Roadrunners. Despite Rio Hondo’s success in three point shots, 33.3% of their attempts in the game compared to IVC making 7.1% of their attempts, the Lasers success came from close to the basket, as they outscored the Roadrunners over three to one from inside the paint.
After having a strong start to the tournament, McCorkle’s production dipped in the second match, pulling down 10 rebounds, while scoring nine points, five of which came from the free throw line. However, freshman forward Taylor Casey picked up the slack, scoring 12 points while pulling down 11 rebounds for her first career double-double. Casey’s 12 points tied for the team high with sophomore guard Amber Wharton.
The Lasers (7-4) will face off against the Long Beach City Vikings (6-1) today at 4:00 p.m. in the championship game. Elsewhere in the tournament, Chaffey College (5-3) will face off against Rio Hondo (3-6) in the third place game at 12:00 p.m., while San Diego City (2-7) will go head-to-head with Cerro Coso (3-6) in the consolation bracket championship at 2:00 p.m.