The La Verne women’s basketball team defeated La Sierra, 76-52, on Nov. 20 for its first road win of the season.
This win is the second victory this season for a team that may find itself on a roll.
All the players were pumped up going into the game that night and had confidence in what they planned to accomplish.
Senior guard Marissa Raya was proud of what her team managed to during the game.
“Our team did really well. It was through the confidence in my team,” Raya said.
Raya shined throughout the night as she scored 32 points in the game. She also shot six-of-eight from 3-point range.
ULV had a tremendous start as the team shot 54.5 percent from the field in the first half of the game in comparison to La Sierra’s 25.8 percent.
The momentum kept going throughout the entire game.
Sophomore forward Emily Carrillo and freshman guard Ashley Paul both contributed eight points.
Junior forward Trenecca Jones and sophomore center Corinne Watkins put in six points each.
Jones continued to prove her status as d3hoops.com’s West Region Player of the Year with her performance in the game.
Mayra Dueñas, a freshman point guard, is confident in the team and in what it can do this season after experiencing the game against La Sierra.
“I have a lot of confidence in the team. We should be able to pull it off,” Dueñas said.
Head coach Julie Kline continues to keep the team prepared for the upcoming games and the rest of the season.
The hard work the team puts into their practices is just a small portion of what they are capable of on the court during the games.
“They are continuing to work together day in and day out,” Kline said. “Saturday’s game will be the biggest game of the year, and after that Thursday’s game will be the biggest.”
With this win, the team hopes to have a strong season and their hard work shows that it will be a good one.
The Leopards are now working hard to prepare for their upcoming games.
“We just need to take it one game at a time. Keep our intensity up,” Raya said.
The next game for the team will be Saturday Dec. 1 as they go against Holy Names University at Frantz Athletic Court.
Following Holy Names, ULV will be matched up against Chapman on Dec. 6.
“We just have to keep our structure and play La Verne basketball,” Dueñas said.
Diana Zarate can be reached at dzarate@ulv.edu.
