The hiatus for the Las Positas College women’s basketball team will extend a second season. Athletic director James Giacomazzi confirmed that while most sports are returning to action, the 2021-22 season has been canceled for women’s basketball due to the retirement of coach Clarence Morgan.
Morgan’s teams finished with a 74-137 record over eight seasons, according to the California Community College Athletic Association records. They won just over a fifth of their conference games (21-73). They also never qualified for the playoffs under Morgan.
“We’ll begin a search soon for the new head coach and try to have this person hired in the spring,” said Giacomazzi, who also confirmed the cancellation of the women’s volleyball season.
The COVID-19 pandemic took away the 2020-21 season for all California community college sports. A second season out of action gives the Hawks women’s basketball program a much-needed chance to retool as it hasn’t come close to winning half of its games in a season since 2015-16.
The women’s basketball program at Las Positas is fairly new and their best days were early on.
The Hawks debuted in 2006-07, finishing 20-11 overall and going 6-4 in Coast Conference North play. They were led by Donisha Tate, a 5-foot-11-inch forward who was one of the top rebounders in California and made third-team All-State. The Hawks made the playoffs in their inaugural season as a No. 12 seed but were knocked out in the first round losing 81-56 to the fifth-seeded Siskiyous.
The following year, their 18-13 overall record landed them a No. 16 seed in the regional bracket, largely because of a 3-7 record in conference play. After knocking off No. 17 Ohlone 71-68, Las Positas was blown out by the No. 1 seed in the next round. Foothill beat them 85-56. Tate again made third-team All-State.
After two seasons in existence, the Hawks women’s hoops program had 38 regular season wins, two trips to the postseason and one tournament victory. The program was looking up, but over the next four years it bottomed out, posting a combined record of 21-80 during that span and winning more than five games in a season just once.
The losing seasons included four where they were winless in conference games. At one point, Las Positas lost 41 straight conference games.
Morgan was hired in 2012. His takeover of the program coincided with the sophomore season of Carlie Bonderer, who led the state in scoring at 24.4 points per game to go with 11.4 rebounds. Las Positas was once again competitive as they split their 12 conference games and finished 15-11 overall. Bonderer was named second-team All-State.
The next season, though, the Hawks closed the season by going 1-11 in conference play, finishing 8-19 overall. The program never got back on its feet. After the promising 2012-13 season, the team’s best overall record since was 13-15 in 2015-16.
Gibran Beydoun is a writer for The Express. Follow Him @Gibran580MSCM
