Golden Eagles improve to 3-1 in Conference with exciting win over Merced College

West Hills College Lemoore Schedule and Results

However, Merced, whom the Golden Eagles had already defeated earlier this season in the Santa Ana Tournament, didn’t quite roll over and play dead. The Blue Devils chipped away at West Hills’ lead and eventually trailed by just 7 points, 33-26, at the halfway mark of the game.

Janissa Pates brings the ball down against Merced College.

Photo by Ed Martin

The Golden Eagles managed to stay just ahead of Merced and eventually withstood the comeback and won 64-56 to improve to 3-1 in the CVC with a key game against College of the Sequoias coming up Wednesday in Visalia. Overall the Golden Eagles improved to 14-6 overall.

West Hills only conference loss came last Saturday at Fresno City College. The Golden Eagles will have another chance to defeat the Rams on Feb. 3 in the Golden Eagle Arena.

Once again leading the Eagles in scoring was Michelle Brown who finished with 14 points. Jordan Lassiter, Samantha Earls and Kim Alfors each chipped in with 10 points.

With about 5 minutes left in the game, Merced closed the gap to just 7 points at 51-44, but Earl, displaying some of the flash that has earned her all-conference honors, grabbed a rebound at the defensive end and returned the ball back down the court for an exciting layup to put the Eagles up 53-44.

Seconds later, Earl then connected on a 3-pointer to increase the lead to 56-44.

Merced’s Tajaheray McMahon scored to cut the Eagle lead to 60-53 with just 28 seconds left, but Jordan Lassiter calmly sank two technical foul free throws to help secure the win.