The Rio Hondo women’s basketball team showed promising potential as they competed in a Fall Showcase at Ventura College preparing for the upcoming season. The Roadrunners went 3-1 on the weekend with impressive wins over Foothill College, San Diego City College and Antelope Valley College.

The Roadrunners began the weekend with a matchup against one of the top teams in the state and host of the showcase, Ventura College who were state champions just two seasons ago in 2014.

The Roadrunners showed no sign of intimidation as they started the game with a strong start making sound decisions on offense while competing and staying disciplined on defense.

Ventura College showed a lot of composure and maturity failing to panic going against the Roadrunners’ tough defense. The game went back & forth with constant lead changes throughout the second and third quarters.

In the fourth quarter, Ventura gained a comfortable five point lead with a few minutes remaining. Rio Hondo had a numerous amount of chances to make the game interesting. They got the crucial stops on defense yet they failed to capitalize on offense as they missed a handful of free throws and a couple easy floaters at the basket.

The Roadrunners suffered a tough loss in their first matchup of the weekend, but they competed against a talented team surpassing their own expectations. This instilled confidence in the team for the rest of the weekend which was apparent in the next game.

Their second matchup was against a tough Foothill College squad. Rio Hondo got off to a fantastic start as they were firing on all cylinders finding open shooters left and right. They were picking apart the Foothill defense and created a large lead early.

Although, in the second half Rio Hondo would take their foot off the gas and let Foothill crawl back in the game as they made inexcusable mistakes on defense and started to become careless with the ball including a numerous amount of unnecessary turnovers. Foothill trimmed the lead down closing out the first half strong.

In the second half, Rio Hondo would pick it back up as they took advantage of opportunities in transition to go along with harassment of the opposing guards causing turnovers and failure of a fluid offense for Foothill. The Roadrunners never looked back in the second half as they maintained a comfortable lead throughout and got a taste of victory looking to carry on their great play to the next day.

On the second day of the showcase, Rio Hondo earned convincing victories over two solid teams in San Diego City College and Antelope Valley College ending the showcase with an impressive 3-1 record.

The Roadrunners had on imposing showing, and it was only an indication of what Coach Johnson’s squad has the potential of becoming. Though not as talented as the rest of the field, their toughness, unselfish play and discipline on both offense and defense can carry this team a long way in the upcoming season.