PCC Women’s Basketball Opens ’14-15 with 1st Honda of Pasadena Classic

The Pasadena City College women’s basketball team opens the 2014-15 season this weekend as it hosts the inaugural Honda of Pasadena Classic. The 8-team tournament runs Friday, Nov. 14 to Sunday, Nov. 16. The Lancers begin with a 4 p.m. first round game against Taft College, a Northern California region team.

Other first round games include El Camino v. Citrus (2 p.m.), Southwestern v. Long Beach City (6 p.m.) and Pierce v. College of the Sequoias (8 p.m.). If PCC defeats Taft, it would play the winner of El Camino-Citrus on Saturday at 6 p.m. On the final day of the tourney on Sunday, the consolation final is at 12 noon, the third place final at 2 p.m. and the championship final at 4 p.m.

PCC head coach Joe Peron, the longest tenured Lancers sports coach in his 19th season, will try to see his team extend the program’s streak of consecutive years reaching the postseason to 14.

After the Lancers won the CCCAA state title in 2008-2009, PCC last reached the state championship tournament in 2009-2010. The four-year absence is something Peron is eager to end.

“We’re determined to try to return to the state tourney, but it’s a tougher feat since it went to four teams several years ago,” Peron said. “We’d also like to challenge Mt. San Antonio for a South Coast Conference title. These are goals that we have every season, and it’s a high standard we want to achieve. Ultimately, we realize we are in a tough division and that the playoffs are unpredictable.”

PCC hasn’t won a SCC title since 2006-2007 but the conference has reverted back to division play for the ’14-15 season thus increasing the team’s chances of winning. PCC will play an 8-game division schedule against Mt. San Antonio, East Los Angeles, LA Trade Tech and ECC Compton Center. It is the first time the SCC has gone division only games counting toward conference standings on the women’s side since 2009-2010.

Peron’s Lancers return just one player from last season’s 22-8 team in shooting guard Emily Thach. Thach averaged 4 points a game and made 25 baskets from 3-point land. The only other sophomore is transfer Chanelle Fisher, a 6-foot-3 center originally out of View Park High, who played as a reserve for Grambing State University last season.

The team will rely heavily on 12 freshmen filling out the 14-player roster. At point guard, the Lancers have two in Judith Espinoza (Eagle Rock High) and Hope Peron, a niece of Coach Peron who played at Maranatha High.

The PCC forwards include international student Gwenaelle Gouloba, a 5-11 talent from Paris, France, Ilianna Blanc, a 5-8 player from Fairfax High, 5-7 Eunice Miranda-Hernandez (Village Christian High) and guard-forwards in 5-10 Regerina Baker (Goliath Academy, Miami, Florida) and 6-1 Pasadena High product Dariel Johnson, an All-Area selection.

The rest of the team’s guards are made up of 5-7 Ivet Satorian (Glendale High), 5-7 Kyrstin Nakamura (Mark Keppel High), 5-11 Tiyana Watkins (El Monte), and 5-9 Lyrik Green, out of Blair High. The final piece to the roster will be a latecomer from the PCC women’s volleyball team in 5-9 guard Chy’annea Hodges, a Muir High graduate who has excelled for the Lancers as a middle hitter. Hodges was the Pasadena Star-News MVP award winner during the San Gabriel Valley Tribune-Star News All-Star game back in April. On that same date, Nakamura won a 3-point shooting contest.

The bracket for the 1st Honda of Pasadena Classic is at the link below:

http://www.pasadena.edu/athletics/basketball/women/documents/hondapasadenaclassicwbb.pdf

[File photo–Emily Thach, PCC’s lone letterman, in action during a 2013-14 contest.]