In a battle for second place in the Foothill Conference standings, Rio Hondo College came up just short in a 60-59 defeat to visiting Chaffey College on Saturday. The loss dropped the Roadrunners to third place in the Foothill at 4-3 and 11-13 overall.
Rio Hondo trailed for the majority of the contest as Chaffey jumped out to a 15-4 lead in the first quarter. Fast forward to the fourth where the Panthers held a commanding 51-40 advantage with 7:49 to play before Rio Hondo put together a 14-4 run to get back in the game. Sophomore Julissa Vargas scored nine of her 13 points during the surge, including back-to-back three pointers to get the Roadrunners within one point at 55-54 with 1:26 remaining.
But Rio Hondo couldn't get over the hump to take the lead. Alexis Frondarina's layup with 48 seconds left extended Chaffey's lead to 58-54. Sophomore Justine Manjarrez sank a pair of free throws while sophomore Danna Robles made one of two free throws to get Rio Hondo within one again at 58-57 with just four seconds left.
Forced to foul, Rio Hondo sent Chelsea Waddy-Blow to the line with two seconds on the clock and she calmly made both. The Roadrunners called timeout to advance the ball past half court and Manjarrez' three-pointer bounced off the rim before Robles put back the rebound as time expired to come up just one point short.
Vargas, Robles, and sophomore Ashley Rendon all scored 13 points to lead Rio Hondo. Robles added five rebounds and five assists while Rendon had a team-high seven rebounds.
Frondarina led Chaffey (14-10, 5-2 FC) with 20 points.
Rio Hondo returns to action on Wednesday (Feb. 10) at 7 p.m. when the Roadrunners travel to College of the Desert for a Foothill Conference game.