The College of the Redwoods women’s basketball team continued its early season with two road games on Thursday and Friday.
Unfortunately for the CR women, however, they dropped a pair of close games, falling 74-64 at Merritt on Thursday and following that with a 70-60 loss to Pasadena at the San Mateo Crossover on Friday.
With the two losses, CR dropped to 2-3 on the early season.
However, it wasn’t all bad news for the team, which showcased a balanced offense on Friday.
“Pasadena did a great job of taking us out of what we do, and we struggled to execute our game plan for today,” CR cheat coach Bree Northern said. “However we did a good job of sharing the ball and getting shots up, they just weren’t falling.”
Eight different Redwoods players scored in Friday’s game, led by former Arcata Tiger Addison Wingate, who finished with a team-high 10 points.
Ferndale’s Madison Gossi added nine points, as did Kinley Somerville, while Anna Cayetano-Keasey chipped in eight points, Mia Hoogendorn added seven points and Aliyah Vigil and Cayenne Pruter each had five points.
But the team was unable to maintain any real momentum.
“We weren’t really ever able to get into a rhythm out on the court,” said Northern, who added “We did fight until the end, but we have to find a way to bounce back tomorrow and come home with a win against Santa Ana.
The team also got off to a slow start at Merritt on Thursday and trailed by 20 at halftime.
However, the CR players would continue to battle and enjoyed a much better second half after settling in.
“We got off to a slow start unfortunately against Merritt tonight and they really used that to their advantage,” Northern said after the game. “We struggled to handle their transition offense.”
Redwoods would cut the deficit to just five points early in the second, but was unable to get any closer.
“I am very proud of the ladies for how hard they played in the second half of the game,” Northern said. “They never gave up, fought until the buzzer sounded and ultimately played together as a team.
“It was a beautiful glimpse of the potential we have as a team.”
Redwoods will close out a busy few days against Santa Ana on Saturday, with tip off set for 1 p.m.
