By Christina Easter
The Cuyahoga Community College Women’s Basketball Team opened their season with a four-game home stand on November 1 at Eastern Campus in Highland Hills, Ohio and have won each game by at least 20 points and two games by 50 or more.
The Lady Tops are 5-0 at home and 2-0 on the road. They are in first place in the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) and lead the conference in points scored per game (80), field goal shooting (41%), free throws made per game (14.3) and steals per game (17.6).
So far this season, two players have won the OCCAC Player of the Week.
“The season is going good and we’re off to a good start,” said Dion Griffin, head coach Women’s Basketball. “I feel like we’re coming to play and have gelled well from our summer league and off-season…Also, our chemistry is really tight and that gives us the opportunity to play well together on the court and they really like each other off the court.”
The Lady Tops opened the season with a dominating 79-50 victory over Wayne County Community College. Some of the Lady Tops got into early foul trouble and had to sit. The team also traded one-point leads. But in the second half, the defense put the full court press on.
Freshman starters Syair Young scored 28 points and La’Nia Moore scored 16, grabbed 11 rebounds and had five steals. Jayleena Bauzo came off the bench and scored 16 points and had three steals.
“We got those first game jitters out and after that it was rolling from there,” said Jasmine Frierson, assistant coach of Tri-C’s Women’s Basketball Team.
On November 9, the Lady Tops beat Oakland Community College 113-56, and on November 15 they beat Lorain County Community College 88-33.
In addition to winning big at home, the Lady Tops went on the road and beat Madonna University 75-51 and Terra State 69-37.
Syair Young leads the OCCAC in scoring with 20 points and three-pointers having made 20-52.
Jayleena Bauzo is second in scoring in the OCCAC and first in the conference with 22 points per game. She also leads the OCCAC in steals and free throws attempted and made per game.
La’Nia Moore leads the OCCAC in offensive, defensive and total rebounds per game. Summer Hastings-Peterson leads the OCCAC in steals with almost six per game.
The Lady Tops play seven more games before the holiday break on December 13.
