Lady Vikings hoopsters race past Roadrunners

BARSTOW • The Barstow Community College women’s basketball team took a game that was still a competitive one at halftime and turned it into a rout.

The Lady Vikings combined strong offense with stifling defense to take a 63-45 win over College of the Desert in Foothill Conference play on Wednesday night.

The Vikings never trailed in the contest, but the game was a close one through the first 20 minutes. Barstow, though, set the pace right away, displaying its defensive prowess by forcing the Roadrunners into traveling in their first two possessions of the night. The home team spread out its scoring, getting points from eight different players in the first half.
The defense was a problem for Desert all through the match, which was a welcome sight for Vikings coach Tim Woods.

“We came out with defensive intensity, and pressed them even more in the second,” he said. “We still didn’t execute like I wanted to, I want us to run our offensive plays a little more, but the effort was there.”

Barstow could never quite pull away in the first half. Three times there were seven-point leads built up, but every time the Roadrunners chipped away. The Vikings began to take control down the stretch, and held a 28-19 edge at halftime.

Then came the second half, and the Vikings wasted little time getting the game in hand. Each team picked up a field goal in the first minutes, but then the Barstow defense took over. That pressure resulted in an 18-2 run for the home team, a run that stretched all the way to the mid-point of the half. The Roadrunners had no defense for the Vikings’ press, leading to more traveling calls and more Desert players being forced out of bounds.

“These kinds of games can be even tougher, you can get a little lazy,” said Woods. “But tonight, our defense never got lazy. We played hard for the whole 40 minutes.”
The coach was referring to the Roadrunners’ records of 3-14, 1-5, going in. Sometimes things can get messy against such an opponent, but the Vikings never took their competition lightly; they kept it up until the final buzzer.

The game high-scorer was Barstow’s Nisha Barrett, who reached her season average of 18 points, while also taking down 10 rebounds, for the double-double. Right on her heels was Claire Williams, with 15 points, besting her average of 12, along with five assists. Jazmyne Smith contributed nine points and seven steals.

In double figures for Desert were Ashley Milan (12 points) and Marlene Goldsmith (10 points).

The win left the Vikings with records of 15-6 overall, 4-3 in the conference.

Next up for Barstow is a game at Cerro Coso College in Ridgecrest on Saturday. The next home game is also against Cerro Coso, on Feb. 4 at 1 p.m.