Women’s Water Polo: Roadrunners hold off Crafton Hills for 9-7 win

Freshman June Babishoff scored a game-high five goals, including three in the second half, to help lead the Rio Hondo College women's water polo team to a 9-7 non-conference win at Crafton Hills College in Yucaipa on Friday.

The win improved the Roadrunners to 2-3 overall this season. Crafton Hills, competing in its inaugural season as a member of the Inland Empire Athletic Conference, dropped to 1-1.

Rio Hondo jumped out to a 3-1 lead after goals by Babishoff and a pair by freshman Kharena Garcia. Crafton Hill scored the next two goals to tie up the game at 3-3 at the end of the first quarter and jumped ahead 4-3 with at the 6:10 mark in the second.

Babishoff tied up the game with her second goal and freshman Ivania Moreno put Rio Hondo back out in front, scoring with 2:15 left in the second quarter. The Roadrunners led 5-4 at halftime before surging in the second half.

Crafton Hills tied up the contest one final time at the 5:55 mark in the third before Rio Hondo went ahead for good. Babishoff scored with 34 seconds to play in the third to put the Roadrunners up 6-5. The Roadrunners went on to score three unanswered goals in the fourth, getting two from Babishoff and another from Garcia to take put the game out of reach at 9-5.

Sophomore Emily Amezcua had a huge game in goal for the Roadrunners, posting 19 saves in the win.

Rio Hondo returns to action on Wednesday (Sep. 18) at 3 p.m. when the Roadrunners open South Coast Conference play at Long Beach City College.