BUTTE VALLEY — The Butte College women’s basketball team jumped out to a red-hot start in its Golden Valley Conference home opener Saturday against Shasta College.
After taking a 29-9 lead after the first quarter, there was no stopping the speedy Roadrunners, the top-ranked team in the state. The Roadrunners regularly swapped their five starters out with a clean slate of five bench players, giving ample rest and fresh legs to all. At the end, Butte (22-1, 3-0 GVC) stayed unbeaten in GVC play with a 105-45 victory.
It was the third time this season the Roadrunners have scored 100 points or more, with the other two coming Dec. 9 against Napa Valley and Dec. 30 against Oxnard.
“We play for each other, it’s very balanced, and it’s very hard to prepare for us because any one of our kids can get you on any night,” said Roadrunners head coach Tyler Newton. “I was very happy with our effort and energy, and how we played today.”
Freshman guard Jocelyn Medina, who stands at 5-foot-6, had her third double-double of the season, finishing with 13 points and 10 rebounds. She added four steals on defense.
Rebounding is a big emphasis for Medina, who has been told she can read the ball well off the rim and uses that to her advantage despite her height.
“Rebounding is probably the most important thing to me,” Medina said. “Scoring comes and goes, and a lot of our girls can score, so rebounding is what I focus on the most.”
Freshman Morgan Trigueiro led the Roadrunners in scoring with 21 points, her seventh game with at least 20 points. She added four rebounds.
Newton praised the success of Trigueiro, the Roadrunners’ leading scorer (14.7 PPG), saying the best thing about her is she doesn’t care about individual success.
“All she wants is to win games, play hard and play for her teammates,” Newton said. “She’s a very well rounded player, and she’s just a winner through and through.”
Trigueiro had nine points in the first quarter on three 3-pointers, and Campbell Vieg had eight points and five steals in the first quarter. Medina was off to a hot start as well with six points and three assists in the first quarter.
The Roadrunners led 56-21 at halftime. After a 74-35 Butte lead after three quarters, the Roadrunners hit 100 points with 1:45 left in the fourth quarter.
All 11 players for the Roadrunners scored Saturday, and all five starters scored in double digits. In addition to Medina and Trigueiro’s tallies, Madalynn Bassett had 11 points and three rebounds, Vieg had 12 points and eight steals, and Sarah Tait had 11 points and five rebounds.
The Roadrunners’ bench contributed 37 points and 15 rebounds. Reagan Marroquin had 10 points, Shade Satica and Mariah Letcher had eight points each, Karine Dhaliwal had five points, Giselle Rodriguez had four points, and Aubrey Prunty had two points and eight rebounds.
“The girls put in the work every day,” Newton said about his bench’s play. “We have a few girls on our team that don’t play a lot of minutes or play very much that could probably start on a lot of other teams in the state, but they chose to be in a quality program. They sacrifice every day, and they go at their teammates and go at their teammates and help make us better. It’s really cool to see them get rewarded with some success.”
Medina commented on the bench’s play as well, saying that the depth of the Roadrunners and how everyone plays their role is key. The bench is a key defensive unit for the Roadrunners and not only locks down its opposition, but challenges the starters at practice as well.
With Saturday’s win, the Roadrunners have now won 19 straight games. They now prepare to play at Lassen at 1 p.m. Jan. 27. Butte returns home to host College of the Siskiyous at 1 p.m. Feb. 3.