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Taft College’s young women’s basketball team must have that deer-in-the-headlights look when the Cougars opened the season Friday afternoon against high-powered Cypress College in the first round of the Pasadena City College tournament.
“We were a little bit intimidated and played too timid,” said head coach Tyrone Taylor after the Cougars absorbed a 97-45 pasting.
“They gave us a full-court press from start to finish,” he said. “We didn’t expect that. It was a wakeup call.”
Taylor said his team played better on Saturday in a 69-61 loss to Los Angeles Valley that eliminated the Cougars from the tournament.
“We played much better,” he said. “Hopefully that will carry over to Tuesday (tonight) when we play Allan Hancock.”
That game will be the home opener for the Cougars. Tip-off in the Cougar Sports Center is scheduled for 7 p.m.
It is the first of three consecutive home games.
TC will host Los Angeles Southwest Friday at 7 and San Diego City College Saturday at 3 p.m.
Taylor said his team was able to break the Cypress press, “but then we would miss a layup. It was frustrating. We missed probably 15 layups, some of them uncontested.”
The game against L.A. Valley was shrouded in fouls.
“The game took forever,” Taylor said. “There were 75 free-throws.”
L.A. Valley took 42 foul shots and the Cougars 33.
“Most of them were called by just one official – a young lady. I’ll never forget her.”
Christine Taylor led the Cougar scoring against Cypress with 10 points and Baylee Day had nine.
Sophomore forward-center Theresa Henderson – last year’s top scorer – led the Cougars with 16 against Valley while Jasmine Green had 10 and Dawnisha Perry and Victoria Worthy seven apiece.
Taylor and assistant coach Deran Smith are working with a squad of 15 and 13 of them are freshmen.
Last season, Taylor had just seven players.
He hopes the better depth will produce better results.
“We’re very young, but we look pretty good,” he said. “We’re going to be fast. We’re looking to do well in the conference, maybe finish in the top three. We’re looking to be in the hunt.”
He said he plans to us an up-tempo offense “running and running and scoring.”
When the other team has the ball “we’ll play pressure defense.”
He likes having better numbers.
“We’ve had the talent in the past, but we just haven’t had the numbers. Now we have the bodies to rest certain players at certain times.”
Taft College’s young women’s basketball team must have that deer-in-the-headlights look when the Cougars opened the season Friday afternoon against high-powered Cypress College in the first round of the Pasadena City College tournament.
“We were a little bit intimidated and played too timid,” said head coach Tyrone Taylor after the Cougars absorbed a 97-45 pasting.
“They gave us a full-court press from start to finish,” he said. “We didn’t expect that. It was a wakeup call.”
Taylor said his team played better on Saturday in a 69-61 loss to Los Angeles Valley that eliminated the Cougars from the tournament.
“We played much better,” he said. “Hopefully that will carry over to Tuesday (tonight) when we play Allan Hancock.”
That game will be the home opener for the Cougars. Tip-off in the Cougar Sports Center is scheduled for 7 p.m.
It is the first of three consecutive home games.
TC will host Los Angeles Southwest Friday at 7 and San Diego City College Saturday at 3 p.m.
Taylor said his team was able to break the Cypress press, “but then we would miss a layup. It was frustrating. We missed probably 15 layups, some of them uncontested.”
The game against L.A. Valley was shrouded in fouls.
“The game took forever,” Taylor said. “There were 75 free-throws.”
L.A. Valley took 42 foul shots and the Cougars 33.
“Most of them were called by just one official – a young lady. I’ll never forget her.”
Christine Taylor led the Cougar scoring against Cypress with 10 points and Baylee Day had nine.
Sophomore forward-center Theresa Henderson – last year’s top scorer – led the Cougars with 16 against Valley while Jasmine Green had 10 and Dawnisha Perry and Victoria Worthy seven apiece.
Taylor and assistant coach Deran Smith are working with a squad of 15 and 13 of them are freshmen.
Last season, Taylor had just seven players.
He hopes the better depth will produce better results.
“We’re very young, but we look pretty good,” he said. “We’re going to be fast. We’re looking to do well in the conference, maybe finish in the top three. We’re looking to be in the hunt.”
He said he plans to us an up-tempo offense “running and running and scoring.”
When the other team has the ball “we’ll play pressure defense.”
He likes having better numbers.
“We’ve had the talent in the past, but we just haven’t had the numbers. Now we have the bodies to rest certain players at certain times.”
What he likes even more is the team’s attitude.
“This is just a good group of kids. They definitely have good attitudes and good personalities.”
Smith echoed that sentiment.
“The biggest thing is that we are all on the same page,” he said. “We don’t have anybody missing practice.”
The Cougars have something else they haven’t had much of in the past few seasons – height.
Green, a freshman from Deer Valley High in Glendale, Ariz., is 6-feet and sophomore Henderson 5-10. They will alternate in the post, but also can play forward.
Sophomore forward Crystal Clark is 5-11 and freshman forward Ashley Dickerson – whose twin sister Courtney is the leading hitter on the Cougar volleyball team – is 5-9.
Guard Yeni Sandoval, who played at Taft High, is 5-10 and guard/forward Brianna Moorer from Surprise, Ariz., is 5-8.
The Cougars are loaded with guards.
They are Desiree Pierce (Las Vegas, Nev.), Dawnisha Perry (Bakersfield), Christine Taylor (Kaysville, Utah), Olivia Hughes (Palmdale), Marlene Castaneda (Wasco), Victoria Worthy (Bakersfield), Baylee Day (Kaysville, Utah), and Cyrena China (Bakersfield).
