Men & Women's Basketball Peaking as Conference Play Begins

by Cerwin D Haynes

(images in thumbnail provided by karas_cams (IG), elacmbb (IG) and Mario Villegas) 

Many coaches structure their non-conference schedules to build momentum to the start of conference play. The allure of a conference title - and the automatic playoff bid that comes with it - is too big a target not to aim for.

With current win streaks of 13 and five respectively, East Los Angeles College's men and women's basketball are both clearly honing in on the South Coast Conference-North. The men will open conference play tomorrow when they host LA City College at 5pm, while the women start their conference quest Friday when they host Rio Hondo at 5pm.

PACK ON TREK

Men's Basketball

For the men (15-2), their 13-game win streak is currently the the best in the state. The streak was born out a frustrating home loss to an unranked Cerritos College squad back on November 20, which ultimately caused East LA to drop four spots in the state rankings, from #18 to #22. But since then, the light has come on within the Pack. First, they scored a big road win the following week at then #5 Citrus. Then in December, they swept all their tournaments (including wins against #6 San Bernardino Valley and #17 Riverside at the RCC Hypland Classic) while earning dominant road wins at Grossmont and West Hills-Lemoore. In this month of January, they've won all four of their games so far by an average margin of 29.25 points per game. Coach Mosley's crew is currently ranked #8 in the recent state poll.

In order to lay claim to the SCC-North title, the Green will need to avoid another Cerritos pitfall (losing to an unranked opponent) while wresting control from last year's champs - the same team whom this season currently ranks #3 in the state: Mt. SAC. Interestingly enough, when the Mounties nabbed the conference crown last season, they stopped a seven-run of the Huskies winning (outright or shared) the SCC-North - an interesting case of the hunted becoming the hunter and now again the hunted. ELAC will host Mt. SAC on February 5th, and visit Walnut for the return bout on the last day of the regular season: February 21. Both teams could easily be playing for the conference title on that final day, along with a top seed in the 3C2A SoCal playoff bracket.

Women's Basketball

Once again, head coach Bruce Turner loaded up his non-conference schedule with some of the best teams in the state. Facing off against state ranked teams such as #4 Moorpark, #14 Mt. San Jacinto, #18 Palomar, #25 Citrus and the defending state champions in #3 Orange Coast, the Huskies have learned to sharpen their claws against the best in the state while coming together as a team. Coach Turner's annual goal is to use the non-conference games as a gauntlet to get his team mentally prepared for SCC-North play.

Looks like his tactics are working again. There's a reason Coach Turner is in the 300-win club.

At one point ELAC held a record of 4-9, but the Pack are now on a five-game win streak. They swept the Okawa Classic at the end of December. Then, they've had two dominant road victories at Cerritos and then El Camino - both games consisting of the Huskies putting forth dominant second-halves to pounce all over both the Falcons and Warriors. Of note for the El Camino game: while ELAC does not sport a sparkly field-goal percentage for the season (34.5%), they caught fire in the third quarter. They shot over 61% from the field, including 6-10 from three - easily their best shooting quarter of the season. Granted, it was against a winless El Camino squad, but East LA will need to show they can occasionally catch the hot shooting hand to compliment their defensive and hustling identity.

In a somewhat similar position to the men, the Lady Huskies will need to take care of business against unranked conference foes while taking aim for SCC-North favorite and #2 state-ranked Mt. SAC.