A furious fourth-quarter rally came up just short for the Rio Hondo College women's basketball team as the Roadrunners fell 47-43 to visiting Mt. San Antonio College on Wednesday in both teams' South Coast Conference North Division opener.
Rio Hondo fell to 15-6 overall and 0-1 in the SCC North while Mt. SAC improved to 16-5 and 1-0.
Rio Hondo got off to a slow start and couldn't overcome a 15-6 first-quarter deficit. Mt. SAC led 43-29 at the start of the fourth quarter and appeared to be on its way to an easy victory. But the Roadrunners didn't quit. They scored 11 of the game's next 13 points. Jennyfer Morales three-pointer at 2:27 mark got Rio Hondo within five points at 45-40. After a pair of Mt. SAC free throws, Morales hit from downtown once again, this time with just 15 seconds left in the contest to cut the Mounties lead to four points. Morales had one last shot but missed her final three-point shot at the buzzer.
Morales came off the bench to score 6 points to go along with 3 steals and 2 rebounds. Amy Navarro just missed a double-double, grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds while scoring 9 points. Candace Black had 8 points and 7 rebounds, Donteylor Maxwell scored 8 points and had 8 rebounds, and Amanda Lee chipped in with 9 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 points, and 2 steals.
Wednesday's loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Roadrunners. They will look to get back on track this Friday (Jan. 24) when they travel to Pasadena City College for a 5 p.m. SCC North Division game.
