Bates helps Jaguars to PCAC division title

By Nick Pellegrino
Updated: February 21, 2019

2019 COMMUNITY COLLEGE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

By Nick Pellegrino
East County Sports staff writer

CHULA VISTA (2-21-2019) – You need to forgive Southwestern College for its difficulty to cinching the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference women’s basketball championships. The Jaguars own little experience in hoisting the trophy.

After sweeping all four of their South Division opponents in the first round of conference play, the second round hasn’t been kind, placing Southwestern into position to blow the title. But they finally took care of business on Wednesday (Feb. 20).

Sophomore guard Satera Bates (Mount Miguel HS) poured in 10 of her team-high 20 points in the first period, jump-starting the Jags to a quick 24-15 lead en route to stopping visiting Grossmont College, 90-65. The victory clinches at least a share of the school’s first PCAC crown this century.

“It feels good, not only doing it for coach (Janet Eleazar) and our team but for the school, too,” said Bates. “It’s been a long time.”

“And to do it in the first full season in a whole brand-new facility also makes it special.”

Following the 4-0 start, an 0-2 mark in the second round put the ballclub’s chances of an outright title in jeopardy. But Bates took care of business early, as the rest then her team quickly followed.

Even for Bates, her start was slow with three missed shots and a turnover in the opening minutes, allowing the Griffins to claim an early 9-4 lead. But once she warmed up, Bates drained four straight shots as part of a 15-2 run to grab the lead for keeps. The streak started on a 7-0 spurt, capped by a Bates triple to take the lead at 11-9 with 3:36 left in the first.

Bates stands at 949 career points with at least two contests remaining (one regular season, one CCCAA playoff game) in her quest to surpass the 1,000-point plateau.

“I was looking at that last night when someone mentioned it to me,” she noted. “I did score a lot at Mount Miguel, but I accepted a different role here at Southwestern. Still, to be able to reach 1,000 would be really big for me.”

In addition, Bates aided the defense with 7 rebounds in a foul-fest that featured more than 40 combined fouls and 60 composite foul shots

At Mount Miguel, Bates capped her high school career by being named the Player of the Year on the 2016-17 All-East County team. She averaged 23.2 points in her senior year.

As for her future, Bates added, “I don’t know where, but I’ll be somewhere.”

She is majoring in nursing in her quest to be an ultrasound technician.
The game’s leading scorer was Grossmont guard Chiara Mattern with 32 points — her second-highest effort of the season recorded 30 against Southwestern in the team’s first meeting on Jan. 30 (then a career-best). registered 37 last Friday against Imperial Valley.
Over her last 8 outings, Mattern has scored 184 points (23.0 average), pushing the freshman’s season total to 430 points.
For Southwestern (15-10 overall, 5-2) PCAC), Malia Talavera came off the bench to post 10 points and 4 assists.
In completing their season, the Griffins (6-18, 4-4 PCAC) saw Drew Mendoza added 14 points, while
The Jaguars conclude the regular season Friday at Mesa. The Olympians were slated tp host San Diego City College, but no result was reported to the CCCAA state website.
On a historical note, prior to women’s athletics becoming state-sanctioned for the 1977-78 school year, there used to be a San Diego County women’s basketball league combing 4-year and 2-year schools. In the mid-70s, Southwestern (then a club team) once scored 120 points against the University of San Diego varsity team.

San Diego City 69, Mesa 62 (2-OT): At Mesa, City College guard Breeana Gafare, in her just her second outing since returning from a month-long injury, tallied 28 points to power the Knights past the host Olympians. Gafare’s effort was the second-best effort of her career (29 vs. L.A. Southwest).
Gafare, who prepped at Hilltop, was also in contention for a rare quadruple-double — which has occurred just twice inn Pacific Coast Athletic Conference history — but settled for a extremely nice double-double by also grabbing 10 rebounds, plus 7 assists and 7 steals.
In addition for San Diego City (12-14 overall, 4-3 PCAC), Alissa Wolfblack added 10 points.
Meanwhile, Mesa center Yusra Gharram officially registered a triple-double and an unfortunate quad-double. The Mission Bay alum posted 25 points, 14 rebounds and 11 blocked shots, but she also recorded 11 turnovers.
Olympians teammate Lavinia Moa added 8 points and a career-high 22 boards. Mesa is now 5-19 (1-6 PCAC)

It was Mesa’s second double-overtime contest since the historic 1980 contest, when Mt. San Antonio came to town and won 104-100 in a South Coast Conference ballagame. The contest was part of a stretch when Mesa played 6 overtime games over an 8-game span (they went 3-3).

PCAC North
No. 14 Palomar 71, MiraCosta 48: At Oceanside on Tuesday (Feb. 19), the schools played a day early so both coaching staffs could scout/recruit at the CIFSDS basketball playoffs. The Comets won easily to clinch second place in the North Division, leaving the Spartans to finish third in the circuit.
For MiraCosta (16-8 overall, 3-4 PCAC), Aly Murray scored 12 points from off the bench in the team’s final home game at historic Crossroad Gymnasium.
Palomar (21-7, 5-2 PCAC), did not report; the school continues to have legitimate internet and computer issues. The Comets have a bye to conclude the regular season on Friday, while MiraCosta’s game with San Bernardino Valley was cancelled.

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