UKIAH — A 35-point second half propelled the Mendocino College women”s basketball team to a 67-53 win over Merritt College in a Bay Valley Conference game on Friday night at Mendocino College.
The win, the Eagles” eighth of the season, may be a single-season record for Mendocino College, according to coach Stan Weiper, who is in his second year with the team.
Mendocino had a 12-point lead in the first half only to watch Merritt”s Keiko Alingas sink five straight 3-pointers.
“She was hitting them from a good 4 or 5 feet behind the line,” Weiper said of Alingas, who scored all 18 of her points on 3-pointers in the first half.
Alingas” sharpshooting skills allowed the Thunder-birds to pull even with the Eagles by halftime at 32-32.
Mendocino gradually pulled away in the second half to even its BVC record at 5-5. The Eagles improved to 8-19 overall.
Katie Stiles” 19 points paced Mendocino, Kyra Platte added 14 and Kacie Dodds had 13. Former Kelseyville High star Kristen Andre contributed eight points and a team-high 16 reobunds, while Stiles and Amber Shepherd each had eight rebounds.
Key to the victory was Mendocino”s ability to control the basketball.
“We had only 16 turnovers,” Weiper said.
Mendocino has two BVC games remaining on its 2006-07 schedule. The Eagles are home Wednesday to play Solano at 5:30 p.m. and they close out their season Feb. 16 in Pittsburg against Los Medanos at 5:30 p.m.
