MSJC Gets Big IEAC Victory, Push Win Streak to Eleven

The MSJC women's basketball team won a showdown of two of the top teams in the Inland Empire Athletic Conference on Saturday as the #13 ranked Eagles defeated #18 ranked Cerro Coso 62-54 to push their win streak to eleven games.

The Coyotes came out of the gates ready to play as they jumped ahead of the Eagles 6-0 and never trailed in the opening half going to the locker room with a 34-30 advantage. MSJC answered out of the break as they went on a 14-2 run to start the third quarter. The Eagles took the lead for good when Drasoni Kyles connected on a three-point shot to give MSJC a 37-36 lead. The game remained close the rest of the way, but MSJC made enough plays down the stretch to remain unbeaten in conference play, improving to 6-0. Cerro Coso fell to 4-2 in IEAC action.

Princess McCauley led the Eagle offense with a team best 17 points, she also grabbed 9 rebounds. Natalie Derla scored 14 points off the bench and Kyles finished the game with 11 points and 5 assists. Laisha Lazu contributed with a game-high 15 rebounds.

The Eagles were coming off a pair of road wins last week as they defeated Barstow 101-25 and San Bernardino Valley 89-33. At Barstow, the Eagles had five players in double figures led by Lazu who had 24 points and also snared 12 rebounds. McCauley added 22 points while Trinity Skinner scored 17, Vika Afungia had 10, and Kyles scored 14 as well as making a career high 11 steals. Wednesday at San Bernardino McCauley led the way with 27 points while Lazu added 24 points, 13 rebounds, and 6 assists.

MSJC improved to 15-3 overall for the season and will play two games this week. Wednesday the Eagles will travel to Palo Verde before hosting Victor Valley on Saturday. MSJC and Victor Valley enter this week tied for the top spot in the IEAC standings at 6-0. Wednesday's game in Blythe will begin at 5 pm and Saturday's home game is set to tip-off at 1 pm.