The Tigers dealt with a long mid-week road trip to Taft College with pride and determination. The 9-6 Tigers faced the 11-5 Cougars in a battle of willpower.  The Cougars lead most of the game, but in spite of the 27-42 halftime deficit, the Tigers never gave up!  It took until 6:25 left in the fourth quarter to finally go ahead by two (54-52).  From there the Tigers never looked back.

Tianna Sutherland went 7-12 to lead the team scoring with 17 on the night. Karisma Truong went 5-9 with 15 points. Makayla McGrath went 5-6 with 11 points and 5 rebounds.  Meanwhile, Leyocha Marigney posted 5 points (2-2) and had a team-high 10 rebounds and 3 blocks.  

The last part of the fourth quarter was all Tiger-determination.  The gave up the lead with 3 min. to go (57-58).  The deficit increased to 60-57 with 2 minutes left in the game. But Karisma Truong responded bigtime with a lay up and a steal on the ensuing inbound play that resulted in a break-away lay up  3-pt foul play to take back the lead at 62-60 with 1:41 left to play.  During that exchange a technical foul was given to the Cougars bench that allowed Truong to score two more free-thows to put the score at 64-60 with 1:41 left to play--an incredible SEVEN-point swing in two plays!

The Tigers held on with some solid defense and a head's up defenseive steal by Sutherland that resulted in a break-away lay up to ice the game at 67-61.  What an amazing finish!  Way to go TIGERS!

"While maybe not a great start to the game, it was a great finish and great start to Central Valley Conference play... the girls made the adjustments at halftime and never gave up!", said Coach Kilbert.  The tigers are 10-6 overall and 1-0 in conference (1st). They hope to keep their five-game winning streak alive going on the road this Saturday January 13th at West Hills - Lemoore for a 5pm tipoff.  The Tigers then have a bye on Wednesday and return to home action on Saturday, Jan 20th vs Fresno City at 5pm. 

GO TIGERS!