The Los Medanos College women’s basketball team made the plays it needed late to secure a 66-62 win over Merritt Wednesday, Feb. 11, strengthening its position near the top of the conference standings.

The Mustangs (17-8 overall, 7-4 conference) entered the game on a two-game winning streak, looking to respond after a 71-63 loss at Merritt on Saturday, Jan. 10. They set the tone early, leading 16-12 after the first quarter and 33-24 at halftime. Los Medanos extended the lead to 45-35 in the third quarter before Merritt scored  27 points in the fourth to tighten the game. The Mustangs stayed focused and ended up doing just enough to close it out for a big win.

Head coach Mario Pharr said the turning point came at halftime, when the focus shifted to containing Merritt’s top scorer in transition.

“I think at halftime, we talked about No. 3, she’s their best player number four in scoring in the state,” Pharr said. “So the big adjustment at halftime was just sprinting more back to half court, rather than picking her up a little too early, she blew right by us.”

Pharr said Los Medanos had been too aggressive too soon after missed shots.

“When we miss, we just have to have everybody sprint back, beat them at half court,” he said. “She got a lot of her points in the first half of the transition, us going too early.”

The Mustangs also emphasized discipline after dealing with foul trouble.

“Also fouls. We talked about that,” Pharr said. “So that was a big adjustment, trying to make sure we are smarter, contain them, a little bit better, show our hands, all that type of stuff.”

Defensively, Los Medanos leaned into its identity. The team finished with 19 steals and five blocks, forcing 20 turnovers while holding Merritt to 12 points in the first and second quarters and 11 in the third.

“That’s just our identity, pressure defense,” Pharr said. “We were really aggressive at first, because I understand fatigue is gonna stand in eventually. So we stay super aggressive defensively with a full court press, and then about three quarters of the rest of the game, we’re gonna stay in the three quarters press, because again, that’s who we are.”

Los Medanos shot 24-of-65 from the field for a shooting percentage of 36.9 percent, and 16-of-22 free throw line (72.7 percent). Eve Monzon led the team with 17 points on 5-of-12 shooting, hitting 6-of-8 free-throws and recording four steals. Lamiyah Washington added 14 points and four assists, while Alysa Williams scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

Monzon said patience and trust were key to the offensive flow.

“The key on the offensive side was to make sure that we had patience and we’re taking good quality shots, great quality shots, not just good, but good to great shots, and using up the shot clock and just making sure everybody was involved,” she said.

Communication controlled and led the defense, especially in the closing minutes.

“Communication on defense is really key communication overall on a basketball team, but when we talk on defense, everybody’s able to just be unified and move together,” Monzon said.

Washington said the team approached the game with urgency.

“We kind of had a playoff mentality, and we knew that we had to get after it, and whatever mistakes we had or we made, we knew we got to push through to get it back on defense,” she said. “We all wanted it. We wanted it more than the other team.”

The win carries significant weight in the standings.

“Oh, big, big win,” Pharr said. “We’re high up now in the conference, as we should be … the top two teams in the conference usually go to the playoffs.”

It may not have been perfect, but for the Mustangs, it was enough, and in February, that’s what matters most.