City College Panthers women’s basketball team hosted the Napa Valley Storm on Wednesday, Nov. 6. The Panthers suffered a loss but kept up a fighting attitude to stay in the game and face their 76-60 loss to the Storm.
Despite the loss, the Panthers were positive after the game, and with some goals for moving forward.
“We are very young as a team [with] a lot of growing up to do very fast,” said head coach Caleb Theodore. “There has to be greater attention to detail.”
The Panthers won the tip off, but the Storm would score the first 3-point shot, followed by a 2-point shot from inside the key. Six minutes into the game, City College used its first timeout. With 4:10 left on the clock in the first quarter, the Panthers finally scored their first points from inside the key for a quick shot, bringing the score to 5-2 with the Storm leading. Toward the end of the first quarter, the Panthers scored from inside the key again, bringing the game to 7-4 now, with Storm still leading as the buzzer ran out to end the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Storm scored from inside for a score of 9-7. Moments later, the Panthers brought the score to 9-9 from two shots made at the free throw line. The Storm then scored four more points than the Panthers bringing the score 13-9.
At the end of the second quarter, the Storm was still leading the game 30-21. After halftime, Storm received the ball to start. The Storm took the ball inside for a quick 2-point shot in the middle two times before the Panthers scored again.
At the start of the fourth quarter, with the Storm now leading the game with a score of 50-38, City had the ball first, but Storm was the first team to score two more times before the Panthers could score. This brought the score to 54-38 as the Storm were fouled hard. The Storm was starting to pull away with the game.
The Panthers had the green light to shoot a 3-point shot and the ball went in, bringing the score to 55-41. With 6:20 left in the fourth quarter, the Panthers stole the ball for a quick key shot forcing Napa to call timeout. As Napa brought the ball back into play, the Panthers stole the ball again and went for a money 3-point shot but missed.
“[The] best quarter was the fourth quarter. We need to have more quarters like the fourth quarter,” Theodore said following the game.
Sophomore kinesiology major and Panthers guard Kyshanti King said, “A good night, good execution, with minor issues as a team. Move on to the next game. Keep moving. People lose [and] have a good mindset to keep pushing.”
King finished the game with a team high 23 points.
Looking ahead to their next game against College of the Siskiyous, Theodore said, “Hardest schedule in the state, every team is a playoff team, there needs to be consistency with process and confidence.”
