TAFT, CA – On Wednesday, basketball competition began in the Central Valley Conference opener. Taft College hosted Reedley College in a very close game. Taft won the first two quarters, but Reedley finished the game winning the last of the two quarters defeating Taft 67-61.
The Lady Cougars came out of the gates on fire leading by as much as 19 points, but foul trouble towards the end of the game started to make Taft a bit more conservative defensively. With 1:40 to go in the last quarter, a controversial technical foul on Taft would lead to a 5-point play. At that point, Taft was leading by 1-point, but would trail by 4 after the technical. Reedley would take advantage of that and chipped away to victory.
Taft Head Basketball Coach Romeo Lagmay, Jr. shared his comments, "I think this is the most disappointed I've been all season. We shouldn't have lost such a large lead at home during conference play. We won 20 minutes and lost 20 minutes. To win a college ball game, a team must play 40 minutes strong. Our players do fight. No doubt about it, but we must learn to win those types of fights. It was great to see the local junior high and our campus staff members. We appreciate the support as more of our Cougar fans are starting to attend."
Siera Bradford had her best statistical collegiate career scoring a team high of 18 points, along with 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Brandy Edwards scored 14 points. Zamarehia Heaven, had a team high of 11 rebounds, and chipped in 6 points.
Taft will be in action at home again on Saturday, January 13 vs. Compton College at 3:00 pm.