0 comments
Tourney MVP Shay Jackson steals the ball for the Lancers during the team’s victory over College of the Canyons Sunday, image by Richard Quinton, sports information photographer.On Sunday, the final day of the 15th Rose City Classic at Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium, the Pasadena City College women’s basketball team found itself facing the possibility of a second straight loss and surely a big drop from its current state No. 5 ranking.
The Lancers, who were upset by unranked LA Pierce on Saturday, fell beind No. 18-rated College of the Canyons, 28-18, with a little more than six minutes left in the first half. PCC head coach Joe Peron looked for someone, anyone to lead his team out of the doldrums.
Enter PCC transfer point guard Shay Jackson. The redshirt sophomore used her speed, defense, and sharp passing to run the Lancers’ offense on a 12-4 run that cut COC’s lead to 34-30 by halftime. Midway through the  second half, she teamed with fellow sophomore guard Sabrina Martinez on three staight steals and fast-break layups that gave PCC a 48-46 lead. She fed center Averie-Alice Guzman for a jumper that gave PCC the lead for good at 50-49 with 8:25 left.
When Canyons cut it to 59-58, Jackson responded with a brilliant dribble-drive from the top of the key and her layup sealed things at 61-58 with 1:40 to go. The Lancers finished off a 62-60 win and were one of four teams at the Rose City to go 2-1.
Jackson was named MVP of the tourney after posting 20 points, eight assists, six steals and four rebounds v. COC. Freshman center Kaitlyn Parks also made the All-Rose City Classic Team, scoring 12 points with seven rebounds and five blocked shots. Guzman added 10 points while Martinez had eight points, six steals and four assists. Off the bench, forward Sarah Jackson contributed eight points, six rebounds and three steals.
The shooting slump by returning All-South Coast Conference guard Stella Ghazarian continued as she missed all eight of her field shots and scored just two points. Ghazarian was benched during the game’s final 10 minutes.
Peron is approaching 400 wins in his PCC career with today’s win no. 398.
15th All-Rose City Classic Team
MVP-Shay Jackson, So. Point Guard; Kaitlyn Parks, Fr. Center, PCC, Casey Scheller, Canyons, So. Guard, Kameron Jones, So. Center, LA Pierce, Jade Neal, West LA, Fr. Guard, Megan Fenessy, MiraCosta, So. Guard, Emily Underwood, Desert, Fr. G.
Get our daily Pasadena newspaper in your email box. Free.
Get all the latest Pasadena news, more than 10 fresh stories daily, 7 days a week at 7 a.m.
