With a simple swish of a net, the season began for the Mt. SAC Women’s Basketball Team. Although they have not played a game since the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic, they were about to fight for the state title in March of last year. With a new roster, they are looking to return to the CCCAA State Championships this year.

The team has three players returning from the squad that was in state title contention: sophomores Mina Guevara-Goss, Skylarr Little and Allyah Cartajena. Their veteran leadership is joined by sophomore transfer Savanna Norfleet and freshman Sanaisha Morgan who are also looking to make an immediate impact. The Mounties are poised to have a strong season.

The Mounties started their season strong by hosting the Linda G. Smith Memorial Tip-Off Classic for the 25th time and they looked excited.

Their first opponent of the tournament and season would be the San Diego City College Knights. The Mounties would make a statement in their first game by utterly dominating the Knights for all four quarters. Four Mounties would score 15 points or more and Briana Lizardi scored 23 points off the bench as well. The Mounties would route the Knights in a 97-42 win to start the tournament.

Their next matchup would also be light work for the Mounties. They would face off against a familiar rival, the Citrus College Owls, in the semifinal round of the tournament. Mt. SAC would shut Citrus down with strong defense all game. The Mounties’ dominance held Citrus to only score one basket in the fourth quarter. The Mounties would finish the game with a commanding 67-38 win.

Although they made it to the championship round of the tip-off tournament, they had to face No. 2 overall ranked Sierra College at home. Unlike their two previous games, the Mounties would have an off night. Mt. SAC could not find the bottom of the net, and shot a rough 26 percent from the field. Only Norfleet would be able to score double digits for the Mounties. Mt. SAC had a taste of their own medicine, losing to Sierra College 81-37.

The Mounties have started off the season pretty well and have shown signs of great potential with early dominating performances. Yet this is just the beginning of the season and there is still a lot of basketball to play.

The Mt. SAC Women’s Basketball Team played again on Nov. 10 against San Diego Mesa College at home and won 68-41. Their next home game is against San Bernardino Valley at home on Nov. 13.