American River College’s women’s basketball team fell to visiting Santa Rosa Junior College on Tuesday, losing the game 52-48 after faltering on offense in the final minutes.
The loss dropped ARC to 7-10 overall on the season and below the .500 mark in conference play at 2-3. SRJC improved to 9-10 overall and 3-2 in the conference.
ARC has come up short in three of its last four games.
Guard Jazlynne Macklin led the way for ARC with 21 points, including five 3-pointers in seven attempts.
SRJC guard Jenna Dunbar finished with 15 points, shot 7-7 from the foul line, and made two consecutive 3-pointers in the final three minutes.
ARC led 40-39 with just over three minutes remaining before Dunbar’s 3-pointers, which gave SRJC the lead for good.
“She was missing through the first half but made shots at the end. That’s what it takes to win ball games,” said ARC head coach J.R. Matsunami.
The first half of the game was a struggle on both ends of the floor, with the halftime score 18-17 in favor of ARC.
It took SRJC over four minutes to make its first field goal attempt, and neither team found a flow offensively. At the 12:46 mark of the first half, the score was 6-4 ARC.
Matsunami added that the team’s defense played well, but that the offense has work to do.
“(It’s the first) game we’re playing on the first day (of the semester). It’s tough to multi-task with classes and the game,” Matsunami said.
“We’ve had ugly games,” she said. “Is there an adjustment? Yeah, it’s to score more.”
The struggling offense continued to start the second half, as SRJC knocked down its first 3-pointer of the game at the 15:30 mark.
Neither team scored again for over three minutes, until a Demontra Harrison three at the 12:19 point.
“We often struggle offensively. (We are) capable of it, but (we) don’t push through. It gets in (our) heads if (we) miss one shot,” said Macklin.
Turnovers were also a problem for both teams, as each finished with 17.
“(It was) lack of communication from the ground spot and knowing where the shooters were,” said Macklin on the team’s overall play.
A broken play in the final 20 seconds resulted in a 3-pointer by Harrison to cut the score to 50-48, but SRJC sank two free throws to secure the win.
“(We) played hard for 37 minutes and gave up the last three minutes. Lots of turnovers,” Macklin said.
