The California Community College Athletic Association women’s basketball Southern California Regionals began yesterday with three wild card matchups. Friday, March 1 the second round of the tournament will resume with all seeds attempting to win two games to advance to the California state finals.

Amongst the teams vying for the chance to represent Southern California is El Paisano’s very own Rio Hondo Lady Roadrunners. After a season which peaked after winning two preseason consolation bracket tournaments, the Roadrunners endured through South Coast Conference-North play to squeeze into the Regional brackets as the no. 12/13 seed in the tournament.

At 3-7 all SCC-N play, head coach Rene Herrera and his squad managed to earn the first three wins for the college since joining the SCC-N in 2016. Even though 3-7 doesn’t seem like a record worthy of postseason clinching, Herrera’s team delivered plenty during preseason against tough opposition from other conferences to earn its success.

“Adversity is something every team faces and these girls have managed to stay focused in order to overcome those distractions.” Herrera said following the news of his Roadrunners advancing past the regular season.

The Lady Roadrunners will be coming up against a familiar foe in Ventura College Friday night – hosts of the tournament and winners of the matchup between the two teams back on December 29 during a preseason tournament.

Ventura won that game 64-49 with three-point shooting, free-throw shooting, and rebounding heavily dominated by Ventura. By brushing up its play come tipoff, the Lady Roadrunners are capable of surprising this time around.

With two tournament wins in big pressure moments earlier in the year and the pressures of conference play long gone, Herrera and the women of Rio may just achieve something incredible and leave Ventura with a win. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday.

“We are proud that they are able to continue playing in the postseason,” Herrera said. “We have nothing to lose so we’ll just go out there and have fun to try and make a name for ourselves.”