Women's Cagers 3rd At LASW Tournament

With one of its members of the Tres Towers Offense on the shelf with an injury, the Pasadena City College women's basketball team hung tough and went 2-1 to take third place at the Los Angeles Southwest Cougars Classic played Nov. 17-19.

PCC (5-3) played without transfer Celine Bolton-Ford, but had some strong efforts from both 6-foot-3 sophomore forward Alisa Shinn and 6-2 frosh center Mercy Odima. Shinn scored 25 points and pulled down 12 rebounds in a 79-59 win over host LA Southwest for the third place title. Elise Ortega added 20 points (with four steals and four assists) while Odima tacked on nine points and a team-high 13 boards. Reserve guard Jade Lin contributed nine points and starting letterman point guard Samaiyah Abdullah chipped in eight points and five assists.

LA Southwest took a 15-14 lead after one quarter, but Lin's 3-pointer with two minutes to go before halftime gave PCC a 30-27 advantage. The Lancers kept that lead the rest of the way. 

In the championship semifinals, Chaffey rallied from 10 points down, 49-39, after three quarters to hand the Lancers a 62-60 defeat. With less than two minutes remaining, Jazmine Smith netted a 3-pointer to give the Panthers a 60-57 lead, one it would not relinquish. Shinn finished with 16 points and  eight rebounds while freshman guard Merina Latu sank a trio of threes as part of her 15 points. Odima added 12 points and seven rebounds. For Chaffey, Kahla Badabana nearly had a triple double on 14 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists. 

In the tourney opener, Shinn and Odima put on a post clinic. Shinn made 14 of 22 shots from the field to score 32 points while adding 16 rebounds. Odima just missed a rare 20-20 as she tallied 19 points and grabbed her season-high of 21 rebounds. Shinn was red hot from second to the fourth quarters when she made seven straight shots from the floor and 10 of 11. Odima was 9-for-14 from the field and added four assists and four steals.

Abdullah engineered the fast break and totaled 11 points, eight assists and six steals. Ortega scored 13 points while Lin came off the bench to score seven points, dish out nine assists and make five steals. 

SHINN CRACKS LANCERS 500-POINT CLUB

After eight games, Shinn is eighth in the state in three offensive categories--scoring at 23.4 points a game, rebounding (12.8 per contest), and FG shooting accuracy (61.5 percent). The talented shooter is the state leader in overall points (187) and overall field goals made (80). Odima is 11th in the state in rebounding (11.9 boards a game).  

She now has 520 points in her PCC career to become the 32nd player to reach the milestone. 

Coach Joe Peron's Lancers next face Solano at the 41st College of the Sequoias Gilcrest Tournament on Thursday, Nov. 30. Tip-off is 5 p.m.