East Los Angeles Basketball Poised and Positioned for Championship Run.
by Mike Casarez & Erik Sarni
The women of East Los Angeles Basketball have been on a run of victories coming into the beginning of February 2017 and appear to be putting the rest of the state of California on notice. They just come off an impressive win while visiting powerful Mt. San Antonio College and are starting to put themselves in a position to possibly bring to the east side campus some hard fought hoops glory.
Of particular interest was the visit to Mt. SAC, due to their unfavorable outcome the last time these two well stocked and coached teams meet on the hardwood at East Los Angeles. Although the contest started out a little slow as both teams grinded and sort of felt each other out in the first quarter, Mt SAC started to take advantage of empty possessions and turnovers and slowly took momentum as the first half wound down. Once the second half started, Mt. Sac was able to further slow down East Los Angeles offense and began to assert themselves toward a win.
This past Friday, East Los Angeles was able to return the favor to Mt Sac putting together an impressive run of consecutive victories since the loss. A resounding response to a uncharacteristic performance.
Now the Women of East Los Angeles are getting ready to show the rest of the state what happens when a good team comes together after learning from some adversity and challenge. The Women of East LA are positioned to rise and meet those expectations that come from a collegiate championship run. Their offense is becoming more proficient and their team defense seems to clamp opponents when necessary.
A championship run requires contribution from the whole team. Sometimes that means getting meaningful minutes from some of your maybe inexperienced or first year players. Stepping up and providing those minutes is East Los Angeles freshmen forward Monica Garcia. The East Side product comes to the Women’s Basketball program by way of Garfield High school and has really helped establish an inside presence for the Huskies. Solid rebounding, active hands, and an acute court awareness has helped shut down opponents threats of easy inside points, second chance shots and extra possessions. Her court awareness and ability to run the floor has enabled the Huskies to extend their defense full court and suffocate opposing teams upon their inbound pass. Complementing her prowess on defense is her ability to rebound, pass, and hit the open perimeter shot thus forcing opponents to reaccess defensive assignments once she comes off the bench. Her ball handling skills are complementary to her passing ability and court vision allowing the Huskie coaching staff different options when constructing full court schemes. Garcia has been an important component in the manifestation of East Los Angeles College Women’s Huskies Basketball.
Garcia, Garfield High School three time All-City Selection, two time City Champion and CIF Division I player of the year was not offered a Division I college scholarship. Upon graduating, Garcia decided to attend East Los Angeles College because of past alumni experience and for being a top junior college program in the state. Staying local in the community of East L.A was also a huge factor Garcia explains. Garcia started playing recreational basketball at a young age and loves watching sports. A favorite of hers is following the WNBA and she likes to pattern her game after Elena Delle Donne of the Washington Mystics. Monica’s team goal is to get the Lady Huskies back to the state championship alwhile a personal goal is to play for a Division I university.
Photo Credit – Mario Villegas
Sweet 16
The No. 2-seed ELAC Huskies will host No. 10-seed Pasadena College
this Saturday March 4th 7pm.
We look forward to the accomplishments of this hard working and well deserving group and staff.
Photo Credit – Sarai Trinidad – Mario Villegas
ELAC Athletics Women’s Basketball Official Website
Lady Huskies win in playoffs, Sweet 16 next
story submitted by Tadzio Garcia
