By Justine Chavez
@vivalaajustine
LIVERMORE – There is no shame in losing to City College of San Francisco, the No. 1 ranked team in the state.
But losing at home by nearly 30 points, that stings. This blow out comes one week after they were destroyed by 38 points at Canada.
“I’m frustrated,” said freshman guard Alvon Marshall, who leads the Hawks in minutes. “We are better than this. We did a lot of positive things on the defensive end and we’re just going to continue learning from this and get better. The outcome of (the San Francisco) game doesn’t show how good of a team we really are. … We are definitely a better team than what we showed tonight.”
The 86-58 loss to the visiting Rams, on Jan. 17, pushes the Las Positas men’s basketball team losing streak to three games. The Hawks, whose record stands at 13-7 overall, are now 1-3 to start Coast Conference North play. They won 8 of their last 9 non-conference games.
The worst part is they haven’t really been close in the losses. Las Positas has been outscored by an average of 26.3 points during the losing streak.
What’s the problem? The Hawks’ offense has sputtered the last three games. They scored a season-low 58 points against San Francisco, which improved to 20-1 and is on a 16-game winning streak.
After beating Ohlone to start conference play, the Hawks were averaging 84.4 points per game. During the losing streak, they are averaging 68 points per game.
“Overall the guys played to our game plan but we did have a tough start offensively,” said Hawks coach James Giacomazzi. “We were taking shots that looked promising but weren’t going in. As soon as we got the ball going we starting making shots but they had already capitalized on our mistakes and it created separation for them in the first half.”
Fortunately for the Hawks, they get three beatable teams next: Chabot on Jan. 19, Skyline on Jan. 24, and Ohlone on Jan. 26. All three teams have losing records, even though the Hawks lost to Skyline at their tournament back in December.
The Hawks have a chance to end the losing streak and get some rhythm back. They need it if they want to make the playoffs again.
Women’s basketball
The Hawks are also riding a three-game losing streak after getting blown out at home by their rivals from San Francisco. Freshman forward Alexis Caringal had 18 points for Las Positas in the 97-59 loss to the visiting Rams.
Sophomore guard/forward Samantha Roney had 11 points and 8 rebounds off the bench for Las Positas. Freshman forward Ashley Hart had 12 points.
Jenna Kol, the sophomore guard who leads the team in scoring, was held scoreless Wednesday. After scoring 30 points in the Hawks’ last game, she missed all seven of her shots against San Francisco.
The Rams’ Caprice Taylor made 9 3-pointers and finished with 36 points.
