Vargas' record-breaking performance keys Eagles win over Comets

After a rough outing in a 91-63 loss at home against Solano College last Thursday, preceded by a 68-57 loss at Merritt on Tuesday, the Mendocino College Eagles Women's Basketball Team needed to rebound against a strong Contra Costa College Comets team on Saturday to keep the Eagles conference record on the plus side.

Keyed by a record-breaking 32 points by sophomore guard Elisa Vargas, the Eagles broke open a close game in the second half to put up a solid 91-70 win over the Comets and improve the Eagles record to 3-2 in Bay Valley Conference play and 8-6 overall.

Contra Costa grabbed the early 5-0 lead three minutes into the game, two scores coming on fast breaks and one on a steal. But the Eagles countered on a Kaleigh Lincoln 3-point goal and a floater in the paint by Lincoln to tie the game a couple possessions later. A Comets jumper gave them a 2-point lead, only to have Mendocino go back ahead 8-7 on a trey by Crystal Cervantes with 15:32 showing on the first half clock.

This pattern of back-and-forth play would continue for the remainder of the half and into the second half with multiple lead changes. Seldom did either team have a lead more than a lead of up to 4 points, often less. In all their were 13 lead changes in the first half.

With just under 7 minutes to go in the half, Vargas made a steal and converted it into a fast-break layup. Fouled on the play, she made the charity to give the Eagles a 30-26 lead, their largest of the half.

With 3 minutes to go the Comets' Tynisha Adams hit a three to give Contra Costa a 35-34 lead. The Eagles reclaimed the lead immediately on a Vargas layup plus a free throw on a foul on the play. It was a lead the Eagles would keep to the half, the final 2 points coming on a Katherine Edmonds putback just before the half-ending buzzer giving Mendocino a 42-39 half time lead.

Most of the first half scoring was done by three players on each team. For the Comets, Jewel Rodgers, who made drive after drive to the hoop, piled up 19 points in the first half. A three and 4 free throws contributed to her total. Adams had 16 points with a three and 3 free throws. The other 4 Comets points were split between two Comets players.

For the Eagles, Lincoln led with 15 points, including 3 threes. Edmonds and Vargas each had 12 apiece, with 6 free throws between them.

The second half began with the action mirroring that of the first half. The score was tied four times in the first five minutes of the half. The Eagles briefly held a five point lead, 50-46, but the Comets pulled ahead 52-50 before the Eagles retied on a Vargas putback. It appeared that the see-saw trend would endure for the remainder of the game.

But with 13:55 showing on the game clock, the game finally began to turn in one direction when Cervantes knocked down her second three of the game, giving the Eagles a 55-22 lead. After Contra Costa was called for a charge, they called a timeout.

Coming out of the timeout, Cervantes scored on a layup with an assist from Vargas. The Comets missed on a jumper on their following possession. Eagles center Maia Blundell followed with her first points of the game on a short jumper in the block.

A couple possessions later, after two more defensive stops by the Eagles, she hit a pull-up jumper on a fast-break, giving Mendocino a 9-0 run and a 9-point lead at 61-52 at the 11:26 mark.

The Eagles made another defensive stop and then followed that up with a steal by Lincoln who fed Edmonds for a fast-break layup, extending the Eagles run to 11. It went to 14 on the next possession when Vargas hit a three from the top of the arc, putting Mendocino ahead 66-52.

The Comets finally broke the run with a free throw, but Vargas hit another 3, followed with a Vargas layup off an Edmonds assist, putting the Eagles up 71-53 with 8:47 to play.

That second score made it a 19-1 run, with the Eagles taking firm control of the game. The teams traded points for the remainder of the contest, with the Eagles having the slight edge 20-17 to win by the final score of 91-70.

Vargas' record-breaking scoring performance was fueled by a huge second half that saw her score 20 of her 32 points. Edmonds added 10 points in the second half for game total of 22. Cervantes had 8 points in the half for 11 for the game. Blundell add another bucket for a second-half and game total of 6 points. LaTasha Kelvin and Kendra Newton each broke into the scoring column in the second half, Kelvin with 2 and Newton, 3 on a trey for the Eagles' last score of the game in the final minute of play. Newton, who has been hampered with an injury, was seeing her first action of the game at the end of the game. Lincoln did not score in the half, but 15 first-half points were the Eagles. third highest total for the game.

The Eagles limited Rogers to 8 second-half points, all on free throws. Adams only had 6 points in the second half. Raven Caldwell hit three treys for the Comets in the half.

Scoring wasn't the whole story for the Eagles. They effectively shut down the Comets offensive during the second-half run that broke the game open. Moreover, much of the offensive resulted from teamwork, with the Eagles running sets and constantly finding and feeding the open player.

The Eagles did a good job on the boards. Edmonds had 10 rebounds. Vargas had 5 in the second half. Lincoln had 4 as did Blundell. Jaylen Wilson and Kelvin contributed two each.

Head Coach Jody Steliga, the prior Mendocino College women's single-game scoring record holder was pleased with her team's performance against the Comets. "Tonight the girls were focused. We preached that we needed to control the tempo. We were getting boards and making shots and played off of each other. A lot of the time we're just moving and cutting for each other and finding the open player. It's that simple.

"Elisa had a double-double and Kat (Edmonds) had a double-double. Everyone contributed. It was a much-needed effort by our team. They (Contra Costa) are one of the best teams in the conference. They are a good team and they have good athletes. For both teams it was our third game of the week. So I knew it would be a case of which ever team made it through the 40 minutes the best."

After the Solano game, the Eagles worked on breaking the press. "We worked on cleaning up our press break, not worry so much about being quick about it, just being detailed and slowing it down. As long as we broke the press, we could run our sets."

The Eagles traveled to Marysville yesterday to play a BVC game with Yuba College. They are home tomorrow to play Laney College. Game time is 5:30 p.m.

The Eagles men's team also hosted Contra Costa on Saturday. That game was a close battle right down to the last few seconds, with Eagles edging out the Comets 66-64. Read the story on that game coming up in Journal sports.