By Ethan Aguilera 

 The Riverside City College Tigers suffered a lopsided defeat in a game where the score was never closely contested.

The RCC team loses to San Mateo College in a challenging match, dropping to a 0-1 record at Wheelock Gymnasium on Nov. 3.

The Tigers started off strong, going up 11-4 with a score from freshman guard Keila Esau, but with constant turnovers, their lead shrunk. By the end of the first quarter, the Tigers were down 16-18. 

The Tigers quickly regained the lead as sophomore guard Kavanti Brooks scored. However, they struggled with additional mistakes and allowed 16 unanswered points. Finding themselves trailing the Bulldogs 27-40 at halftime.

San Mateo maintained their lead, but the momentum shifted when sophomore forward Antieya Brown scored six of the next eight points, narrowing RCC’s deficit to nine. However, by the end of the third quarter, San Mateo extended their lead to 16 points. 

 “I thought we had them,” Brown said. “But we just let the game slip right after. We can’t afford to do that again,” 

The struggles persisted with frequent turnovers from both teams. Ultimately, in the fourth quarter, RCC was outscored 12-28, resulting in the Bulldogs defeating the Tigers 52-84.. 

 “I thought we had a great first quarter,” sophomore guard Ayanna Flakes said. “We just had a lot of turnovers that cost us the game.” 

“We started great,” RCC head coach Alicia Berber said. “We kept it close, but we made too many mistakes today, and we’re gonna fix them in practice.” 

Antieya Brown and Keila Esau delivered an excellent performance, with Antieya contributing 14 points and Keila dropping six points and seven rebounds. 

The Tigers would continue the Second Annual Title IX Tip-Off by taking on Citrus College on Nov.4.