“We just weren’t ready,” said a visibly frustrated head coach Monica Hang, after a 71-57 beat down by Irvine Valley College at Glendale’s Verdugo Gym Friday night.

The game was a tale of two halves.

After a slow start, the Lady Vaqs jumped all over the visiting Lasers, forcing a time out to regroup. With 9:20 left in the first half, the Lady Vaqs led 16-5.

However, that was when things began to turn away from the Vaqs. Irvine Valley was able to claw back into the game through offensive rebounding, forcing many Lady Vaq turnovers.

Throw in early foul trouble for leading scorer, freshman Rachel Estrella, and it was difficult for the Lady Vaqs to get shots up.

Sophomore Paola Gupilan and freshman Amanda Quesada stepped up in place of Estrella, who had been averaging over 17 points per game.
After Estrella picked up her third foul of the first half, Irvine Valley finished on a 23-12 run to close out the half-tied with the Lady Vaqs 28-28.

Any hopes that half time would cool the hot shooting Lasers was soon forgotten when they Lady Vaqs quickly gave up a 12-2 run in the first five minutes of the second half. The Lady Vaqs continued to turn the ball over and had a difficult time getting good shots.

Estrella picked up her fourth foul early in the second half and was forced to sit a majority of the game. When she finally did come back in to play, it became apparent that Estrella was the missing element that the Lady Vaqs needed.

The Lady Vaqs pulled to within 11 with eight minutes remaining in the game, but that was the closest they would get.

“It was not really a good game,” said Hang. “We got outplayed, out hustled; they wanted it more. We didn’t fight, we couldn’t make a shot, and we just played poorly.”

The Lady Vaqs are back in action Saturday at home when they take on Chaffey College at 5:30 p.m.