Huskies end Comets’ 33-game home streak

By Nick Pellegrino
Special to East County Sports

SAN MARCOS (11-19-2018) – East Los Angeles College survived a 3-point shot at the final buzzer that missed, as the Huskies escaped with an exhilarating 88-86 decision over host Palomar College in Sunday’s (Nov. 18) championship of the Comets Classic tournament at Palomar Dome.

The win ended Palomar’s 33-game home winning streak.

ELAC held a 9-point lead, 86-77, with under four minutes remaining, yet Palomar almost pulled off the miracle finish.

The Comets late, late rally saw Clarissa Taite hit a foul shot with 3:22 left, then Lilly Crabtree sank two more FTs with 2:07 to go, immediately followed by a steal and breakaway layin from Morganie to m it 86-82 at the 2-minute mark.

A pair of additional foul shots by Crabtree extended the scoring run to 7-0 and made it 86-84, but th Huskies finally countered when on throws.

But Palomar wasn’t done as Crabtree grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on the putback with seven seconds left. The Comets then fouled, but ELAC missed both shots.

Crabtree grabbed the rebound, hit a teammate with an outlet pass, but the final shot from 28-to-30 feet fell just short of pulling a rabbit out of the hat.

Taite finished with 23 points for Palomar, which suffered its first defeat following a season-opening 6-game winning streak. Crabtree added 12 points and 13 boards.

For East L.A. (8-1), Pool scored 21 points, guard Dominique Godbolt added points and 9 boards, while Valerie Godinez came off the bench to score 14 points.

 

Riverside 77, Grossmont 49: In the third-place contest, Dyani Brewer connected for 23 points, while Dayna Dewitt added 18, lifting the Tigers past the Griffins, who were again missing freshman standout Leanna Watson (flu).

Riverside (3-4) quickly built a 10-point lea through the first period, expanding the margin to 18 by halftime in the romp. The contest became ugly late, when the Tigers posted 30 points on the short-handed G-House.

For Grossmont (1-4), freshman guard Chiara Mattern| made up for Watson’s absence in the backcourt by scoring a career-high 23 points. Mattern hit 9-of-17 shots from the floor, while forward Drew Mendoza had 17 points and four assists.

MiraCosta 86, Imperial Valley 57:  The consolation finale wentto the Spartans (5-3) thanks to Julia Iman, who posted a double-double of 15 points and 13 rebounds.

Iman was one of four MiraCosta scorers to reach double figures, including 10 by McKena Stoeff. The rest were players coming off the bench, including Britney Jarvis (14 points) and Uneque Fradiue (11).Thw Aeabs (2-) e again paced by forward Destiny Salgado, who collected 25 points and 17 rebounds, both her second-highest efforts of the season. For the event, Salgado averaged 24.3 points and 13,3 boards per contest.

ElsewhereCerritos 58, San Diego City 49:  The Knights after each of the first three periods, but a huge 24- effort by the visiting Falcons in the fourth quarter was enough for the win at downtown’s Harry West Gym.

City (3-3) led at the half, 29-18, but the Falcons (4-2) came out of the locker room to out-score the Knights, 40-20, in the second half.

Guard Serena Rendon tallied 10 of her game-high 23 points in the final 10 minutes, going 3-for-3 from both the field (including a 3-point shot) and the foul line.

For the Knights, Mariah Wonders came off the bench and registered 15 points and 17 rebounds.