Monrovia Women’s Basketball Begins League Play With Loss

Wildcats drop Rio Hondo season opener against San Marino 44-32

The Wildcats entered their first Rio Hondo league matchup with a chip on their shoulder. Their preseason competition wasn’t necessarily impressive, as they were only able to acquire two victories in nine attempts. However, they had won those two games in their past three contests before Friday’s game against San Marino. Momentum was building for this team, and leaving San Marino’s gym with a victory would have continued that trend.

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, they couldn’t accomplish that feat.

The San Marino Titans also had an underwhelming preseason, as they were only able to hold a 2-15 overall record heading into Friday. But on that night, they had the better of the Wildcats from the initial minutes. The Titans held control of the game following the first quarter when the Titans were able to take a commanding 11-5 lead heading into the second.

That lead enhanced even further for San Marino as they once again outscored the Wildcats 11-5 in the second quarter, and they entered the half with a 22-10 lead. 

Monrovia eventually found an offensive rhythm in the third, and they scored 11 points to start the second half. But their defensive struggles continued and the Titans’ offense began to consistently make shots. San Marino scored 16 points in the third quarter, which nearly doubled their average third quarter point total which was 8.64 before the contest. With that, the Titans held a 38-21 lead on home court with a quarter left to play.

From this point on it was essentially garbage time and it allowed several different players from both rosters to get some much-needed court time. The Wildcats outscored their opponents 11-6 in the final period, which helped make their loss less of a blow from the scoreboard. Nevertheless, the game was lost for the Wildcats much earlier, and they traveled back to their home locker room having to accept the 44-32 defeat.

The loss puts several things into perspective for this women’s team. One noticeable trend is that they must work on generating better ball movement. Their average assist total per game is now set at just above four. In order to win ball games regularly, the team must find a way to score the basketball through a balanced passing attack.

Monrovia’s next league matchup will be their first home game of the season where they will take on La Cañada, who so far is 2-0 in league play. The game will be on Wednesday, Jan. 15 and is set to start at 5:15 p.m.

More from Monrovia Weekly