Photo courtesy of Pete J. Rojas
Posted: Dec 30, 2016
By John M. Sherrard
(Fullerton) For the second time in two weeks sophomore guard Caira Benton has had monster games for the Mt. SAC Women's Basketball team, with the latest a season-high 27 points in a semifinal victory on Wednesday night over Santa Monica College in the Annual Colleen Riley Holiday Invitational at Fullerton College.
With the win the Mounties (15-1) will advance to their fourth tournament championship game this season. They will play Long Beach City College for the third time this season and the second in a tourney title game.
LBCC (9-6), a 51-39 winner over host Fullerton in the other semifinal game, lost to Mt. SAC in a third-place game in the Ventura College tournament and to the host Mounties in their Tip-Off tourney championship game.
Benton, who was named the College of Sequoias Tournament MVP last week, shot a torrid 68% (11-16) from the field, was 5 for 8 from the charity stripe and grabbed six rebounds.
Leading the way defensively with a season-high 16 rebounds (8 off., 8 def.) for the Mounties was sophomore forward Kali Jones (6 points, 5 assists, 1 blk).
As a team Mt. SAC brought down 63 rebounds (23 off., 40 def.). It was the fifth time this season the Mounties have had more than 60 in a game.
Freshman guard Dominique McLaughlin added ten boards (4 off., 6 def.), 14 points, including two 3-pointers, 4 assists and 4 steals.
Mt. SAC again received great bench support as six players combined for 26 points, including 7 of 10 free throws.
In 12 of their 16 games this season the Mountie bench has accounted for 26 or more points in a game.
The Mounties raced out to a 30-4 first-quarter lead and never looked back, in building up a 48-16 first-half lead.
In the one-sided opening quarter Mt. SAC started and ended with big runs. A 10-0 lead at the start ended with an 11-0 run, highlighted by a 3-pointer by sophomore guard Maddeline Dopplick (8 pts., 3 Reb) with 27 seconds left and two free throws by sophomore G/F Aliyah Dickson (6 pts, 6 Reb, 4-6 FT).
Freshman guard Deja Siaki (3 Reb, 2-2 FT, 1 steal) scored five of her seven points in the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer and two free throws to give the Mounties a 33-point lead, 81-48.
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For additional information, please contact the Mt. SAC Sports Information Office at 909.274.4630