Hancock Beats West Hills-Lemoore 63-54, Improves to 4-1

Justine Roland scored six-straight points to fuel a decisive 10-0 run late in the second half to lead the Allan Hancock College women's basketball team to a 63-54 win over West Hills-Lemoore on Tuesday night inside Joe White Memorial Gymnasium. 

The Bulldogs improved to 2-0 at home and 4-1 overall this year under first-year head coach Cary Nerelli. Just five games into the season, Hancock has already matched its win total from all of last season.

Three Hancock players reached double-figures in scoring. Freshman guard Celina Calderon led the Bulldogs with 15 points. She made five-straight free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

Ali Rodriguez, a freshman from Pioneer Valley High, added 13 points despite a 3 for 16 effort from the floor.

Roland, a sophomore forward, recorded her second-straight double-double. The Righetti High School graduate tallied 11 points and pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.

The Golden Eagles' Erista Battle scored a bucket to tie the game at 41-41 with 7:35 to play in the game. That's when Hancock went on a 10-0 run over the next three minutes. Roland, a Righetti High School graduate, scored three buckets after offensive rebounds.  Two free throws made by Emma Weinreich gave Hancock its biggest lead of the game 51-41 with 4:11 to play in the game.  The Bulldogs hung on for the victory despite struggling at times at the free-throw line.

Hancock was 19 for 30 at the line in the second half (63.3 percent) and 24 for 40 (60 percent) for the game.

The Bulldogs led by as many as eight points in the first half after Calderon buried a 3-pointer to give Hancock an 18-10 lead with 8:04 to play.  West Hills climbed to within three points on several occasions the rest of the first half, but a rebound and putback from Sua gave Hancock a 28-23 advantage at the break. Sua tallied six points and five rebounds in the first 20 minutes. The St. Joseph High graduate finished with seven points and seven rebounds. 

Davina J. Valerio added eight points for Hancock in the win.

Kalia Parker led the Golden Eagles with 15 points, 12 came in the first half. Battle added 12 points for West Hills-Lemoore, which fell to 3-3 on the season.

The Bulldogs open the 30^th annual Phillips 66 Tournament at Cuesta College on Thursday, Dec.5 against Victor Valley at 2 p.m. The tournament continues on Friday and Saturday.