Winners of Three Straight, Hancock Women Head to Cuesta Invitational

Riding a three-game winning streak, the women's basketball team and its 4-1 record will play in the three-day Phillips 66 Tournament hosted by Cuesta College from Thursday, Dec. 3, through, Saturday, Dec. 5.
 
The Bulldogs are coming off a 47-44 thriller over undefeated Reedley College. Freshman Destinee Garcia led the team with 10 points to go with seven rebounds and six steals. Sophomores Marissa Torres (Templeton HS) and Ashely Daher, as well as freshman guard Syenna Ramirez (St. Joseph HS) added nine points apiece.  Ramirez led the team with a  career-high 13 rebounds to go with three steals and three assists. Daher added seven rebounds. Sophomore forward Michaila Miller (Santa Barbara HS) added eight points and three steals. Miller hit a clutch jump shot with less than 20 seconds to go, while Torres sank two free throws to clinch the victory. The Bulldogs compiled a team-high 19 steals and forced 30 Reedley turnovers.
 
Ramirez is the team's leading scorer at 19.2 points per game, which ranks tenth in the state. Torres is second on the team at 11 points, followed by Garcia at 8.2, Daher at 6.8 and Miller at 6.0 per game. Garcia leads the team with 7.6 rebounds and 3.8 steals per game, while Remirez averages 6.4 boards and 2.4 steals per contest.
 
Las Positas enters the tournament with a 5-1 record. They have four players averaging 10 or more points per game led by Cayla Nava at 16 points and Jasmine Odell at 14 points per game. Nava averages 3.2 three-point buckets per game, while Odell averages a team-leading 9.8 rebounds per game. Sophomore forward Erika Duarte averages 10.7 points and 9.3 rebounds per game.
 
The winner of the Hancock (4-1)/Las Positas (5-1) game advances to the championship semifinals on Friday at 5:30 p.m. against the winner of the Monterey Peninsula (0-4) / LA Pierce (2-2) game. The losers of the opening games will face off Friday at 1:30 p.m. in the consolation semifinals. 
 
College of the Desert (5-4), Hartnell (2-3), Victor Valley (1-5) and Cuesta (3-3) round out of the eight-team field.