Blaysen Varnadoe lays in a basket over the outstretched arm of a Long Beach defender. She led all scorers with 22 points.
Blaysen Varnadoe lays in a basket over the outstretched arm of a Long Beach defender. She led all scorers with 22 points.
November 20, 2015

Dons Drop Home Opener to Long Beach 78-57

Blaysen Varnadoe led all scorers in the loss with 22 points.

Box Score

SANTA ANA - The Dons lost their first home game of the season 78-57 to Long Beach City College in a non-conference game. The loss evens the Dons record to 3-3 while Long Beach improves to 6-1 on the season.

After the Vikings opened the game with a 4-0 lead, the Dons used back-to-back three-pointers by Celia Duran and Blaysen Varnadoe to take their first lead of the game at 6-4. But Long Beach would reclaim the lead for good with a 7-0 run before taking a 19-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter was when Long Beach began to pull away as the Vikings outscored the Dons 23-11 to take a 42-21 lead into halftime. The Dons got a pair of three-pointers from Rachel Cain after Duran and Varnadoe opened scoring in the second quarter for SAC.

The Dons had a much stronger showing in the second half as they matched Long Beach 36-36 over the final two quarters. Taylor Ivicevic sparked the 20-point third quarter with a lay-up and a three-pointer before hitting a pair of free throws.

In the fourth quarter, the Dons outscored the Vikings 16-14, with Varnadoe scoring 12 of the 16 points for SAC. Amanda Sanchez and Jev Ventura rounded out the scoring for the Dons in the final frame.

Varnadoe finished with a game-high 22 points followed by Ivicevic with 11 points, as the only two Dons in double digits. Long Beach was led by Paris Lucci's 14 points while Vivian Hernandez and Sopavy Seng each added 12 points apiece.