The Fresno City College Women’s Basketball season came to an end in an 80-75 loss to the No.8 seeded Sierra Wolverines (20-11) last Wednesday night here at FCC, the Rams Finished the season with an overall 26-7 record.Leading the Rams were Sophomore Lacey Gibbons with 17, Nicole Chappele 13, and Tabitha Torres with 13.

Despite a hot first half, the Rams saw their lead fizz away as the Wolverines started to heat up, scoring two 3-point shots and capitalizing on the Ram’s miscues.

The Wolverines came back and erased a 10-point deficit to defeat the Top-seeded Rams. Sierra’s surge came during the last eight minutes of the game where the Rams let up on defense as Sierra started to knock down shots that eventually put them ahead.

At the end of the game Sophomore Marlee Wilkinson said, ” We played hard, but at the end it came down to playing defense; we could have played better; they just kept making their shots.”

The Wolverines shot 48 percent from the field and were led in scoring by Tori Carroll 19, Victoria Turner 16, Samantha Hodge, and Ashlyn Lussier 13. The Wolverines gained momentum by capitalizing on

FCC’s missed shots and turnovers as the game drew to a close.

In an interview with the Fresno Bee, Sierra Head Coach Brandie Murrish attributed the win to their tough pre-season schedule, with nine out of ten of Sierra’s losses came to teams ranked in the state’s top 10.

“That prepared us to win in March, our kids had the desire and never gave up,” Murrish said.

The Rams, who are known all around the conference and state for their tough full court press on opponents throughout the game, decided to play a zone defense against the Wolverines. Tessler said, “We did not press them, and I wouldn’t have gone back and pressed them if I had to go back and do it again.”

The Wolverines were able to capitalize on the Rams running a zone defense by getting open in space and making baskets and shooting uncharacteristically well considering their previous shooting percentages and their 48 percent shooting average in the game against the Rams.

Freshman Serena Semaya said that the Rams gave Sierra too many chances to get back into the game when they were down 12 points in the second half. “We were taking too many chances and not playing smart,” she said

With the top seeded Rams out of the race for a state championship, head coach Brian Tessler is disappointed yet proud of the way his team played against Sierra. “They played really hard,” Tessler said. “But you’re always disappointed for your kids because you know how badly they wanted to get to the state tournament.”