The Salt Lake Community College women’s basketball team survived a close Scenic West Athletic Conference matchup against Snow College on Saturday in Bruin Arena.
Bruin forward Karina Brandon led all scorers with 15 points, and forward Olivia Elliss added eight points and six rebounds off the bench to help push No. 7 SLCC (18-2, 6-0 SWAC) past Snow College (9-10, 3-3) for a 56-50 victory.
After trailing 11-8 in the first quarter, the Bruins came out strong in the second, outscoring the Badgers by five to lead 27-25 at the half. Freshman guard Rian Rawlings made a clutch 3-pointer with 14 seconds left to put SLCC ahead.
The Badgers turned up the defense in the second half, holding the Bruins to just 9 points in the third quarter and building a seven-point lead midway through the fourth. But SLCC found a spark off the bench from Elliss, who hit some key shots and grabbed four rebounds down the stretch.
With the Bruins ahead by two, sophomore guard Ebony Norman drained a critical 3-pointer with 1:19 left to give SLCC a five-point lead.
SLCC will face their in-state rival again later this season, and head coach Betsy Specketer says the Badgers are a much bigger threat than they were when the Bruins defeated them 71-47 on Jan. 7.
“This was a good game we can learn from,” she says. “We play Snow two more times and they have improved since our last meeting.”
After the close win, Specketer knows the Bruins have to clean up some mistakes.
“We have things to improve on,” she says. “We need to execute better in the halfcourt and take care of the ball.”
Norman was a bright spot on defense for the Bruins on Saturday, forcing a late turnover in the fourth quarter to help secure the win.
“One key to the win was Ebony Norman defending the point, slowing them down and creating turnovers,” Specketer says.
The Bruins travel to Twin Falls, Idaho to play College of Southern Idaho on Tuesday. CSI currently sits two games behind SLCC in the SWAC standings.
