Monarch’s offense outscores the Imperial College 45-8 in second/third quarter

After the score was a one point game in the second quarter, Valley’s defense held Imperial College to just four points and outscored them 23-4.

By Kevin Khachatryan, Staff Writer

Monarchs sophomore guard Jacqueline Privado drives into a heavily contested lay-up against the defending Imperial Valley in the first playoff game of the western state conference. (Xavier Dubon | Valley Star)

With the ending of the first quarter looking to be a close game, the Valley College women’s basketball team allowed a combined eight points in the second and third quarter and came away with a dominant 74-44 win against the Arabs.

Valley (No.2 Western State South, Overall 21-8) women’s basketball hosted their first playoff game since the 2017-18 season on Wednesday night and rolled through Imperial (No.2 Pacific Coast, Overall 19-10) on both sides of the floor. Sophomore guards Jordyn Jiron, Jacqueline Privado and Dyani Del Castillo and freshman forward Nia Brown poured in more than 10 points.

“I was just happy to get the win tonight,” said Privado. “We have something special going on, and all my teammates are focused on staying positive and taking it game by game.”

Valley was down 16-9 at the three-minute mark of the first quarter that saw Imperial commanding the lead as they made three 3-pointers on four attempts.

Valley responded by ending the quarter scoring five straight points with a steal from Del Castillo, leading to a fast break layup by Brown. A free throw and buzzer beating jump shot from Brown cut the deficit to one point.

Heading into the second quarter, the Monarchs pounced on the Arabs as the opening tip saw Castillo drain a three-pointer. On the next possession, Privado stole the ball to assist Jiron to hit a three-pointer for Valley. With a missed three-pointer from the Arabs, Castillo hit her second 3-pointer in the quarter to extend the lead to an eight point game.

Valley outscored Imperial 19-0 all the way to the six-minute mark in the second as they made six three-pointers and only allowed four points to end the quarter.

A three-pointer from Privado and stealing the ball on the next play to assist Jiron to hit her second three-pointer in the quarter brought the game to a 16 point lead.

Valley forced their opponent to shoot 1-11 from the court in the second quarter and 0-4 from three-point line to outscore the Arabs 38-20 to end the first half.

Valley outscored Imperial 12-2 in the first 8 minutes of the third quarter behind Jiron draining another three-pointer and Castillo pouring in two three-pointers. Sophomore guard Juliet Jaramillo would drain another buzzer beater shot to end the quarter, allowing the Monarchs to have a 36-point lead.

Outscoring their opponents 22-4 in the quarter and 45-8 from the second and third quarter, the Monarchs defended their home court.

Monarchs sophomore guard Jordyn Jiron scoping the court for teammate against Imperial Valley College for their first Play off game of the western state conference. (Xavier Dubon | Valley Star)

Jiron hit three 3-pointers in the second quarter and finished with five 3-pointers at the end of the match before going down late in the fourth quarter after a hit to the nose.

“Our goal is to take the games one by one,” said head coach Monica Hang. “We focus on one opponent at a time so we can advance to the next round.”

The Lady Monarchs move onto the second round to visit the Raiders of Moorpark college on Saturday at 7 p.m.