Skyline College women’s basketball took a heavy loss against Fresno City college in Fresno on Feb. 27 during their second playoff game of the season. The final score ended 83-63.

The women’s team played a hard fought game and in fact were competitive throughout the whole first half. In the second half, Fresno’s superior ball handling skills and their excellent offense seemed to take over. The Skyline women gave it a gallant effort though. Stephanie Allen (#3) played a superb game and gave it her all, but it wasn’t enough to hold off the second best ranked women’s basketball team in the state.

While our second half was not as strong, mainly due to a large number of turnovers, there were still some excellent plays made by numerous women on the team. Victoria Langi (#15) showed some excellent ball handling skills by bringing the ball down court, and passing off to Arianna Sheehy (#2) who threw in a lay up for the score.

The team stayed competitive in the second half and kept fighting back. They would be down by ten points but the team still pulled together. For instance Charme Noordzee (#33), Allen, and Langi all made significant shots and scoring drives all in hopes to bring Skyline back within striking distance.

The women continued to give it a valiant effort but seemed to lose steam and show some fatigue by the fourth quarter. At this point, there seemed to be a number of costly turnovers and there was not much ball movement or offense. Because of Fresno’s experience and excellent teamwork, they took full advantage of this and pulled ahead for good.

Impressed with the talent on our team, Jasmine Black (#3) from Fresno City College said, “Their zone was pretty good, keeping us out of the paint and [Allen] gave us a pretty good challenge.”

Black definitely recognized the competitiveness that Skyline held up, and the challenges that players from Skyline held against their team as well.

“I’m very proud of our team,” said Allen. “I have never seen us work so hard and I wouldn’t have liked to go out any other way.”

Although Allen is aware that Fresno is second best ranked in the state and they have a really strong team, she knows how much potential Skyline’s team brings to the table and that they are a very young and talented team that will only grow from here.

“We worked through it,” said Langi. “We played hard. The best thing about this team is that we never give up.”

Overall, the team played their hearts out. They gave it their all from the beginning to end. Head coach, Chris Watters, was definitely pleased with the way the team played as well, recognizing how much effort the girls put forth throughout the game. It’s possible that Skyline even held Fresno to below their season average. Watters definitely has seen a huge amount of growth and improvement from Skyline this season.

“We’re hoping that an experience like this, being in the playoffs and playing hard against Fresno, can give us something to build off next year, so when freshmen come in they know the mentality right away,” Watters said.

Compared to their previous season, after losing in the first round of playoffs, the team should be proud of themselves for how far they have come. While in the end Fresno was able to take home the win, the women demonstrated that they are capable of improvement.