Fast Start Leads to Women's Basketball Victory in IEAC Opener

The MSJC women's basketball team got off to a fast start on Wednesday night and went on to win their Inland Empire Athletic Conference opener over visiting Copper Mountain College 103-33.

The Eagles raced out to a 27-2 lead after the first quarter and built that to a 50-8 advantage by halftime.  MSJC went on to out score the Fighting Cacti 53-25 in the second half.

All 14 players who played in the game for the Eagles scored at least 2 points as MSJC out rebounded Copper Mountain 71-39 on the evening.  Haylei Janssens led four players in double figures for the Eagles with 18 points, she also grabbed a game high 13 rebounds.  Haley Suarez added 14 points off the bench as she connected on 4 three point shots.  Mariah Sanchez and Janya Smith also reached double figures off the bench with 10 points a piece.  De'Adra Ross hauled in 11 rebounds to go along with 7 points and Deja Blue passed out 5 of MSJC's 23 assists on the night.  In all the Eagles got 58 points off their bench on Wednesday night.

The win was the Eagles seventh in a row and improves their overall record on the season to 8-2, they are 1-0 in IEAC games.  MSJC will step back out of conference play for their next five games before returning to IEAC action January 2nd at Barstow.  Next up for the Eagles is a trip to Palm Desert to take part in the Desert Winter Classic Friday and Saturday.  Friday MSJC will take on San Diego Mesa at 3 pm and Saturday the Eagles will take on Porterville at noon.  Both games this weekend will be played at College of the Desert.