Lilly Crabtree finished the night with 13 rebounds. Photo by Hugh Cox (taken 11/17).
Lilly Crabtree finished the night with 13 rebounds. Photo by Hugh Cox (taken 11/17).

Comets start new year in dominating fashion

SANTA ANA, CA (1/2/2020) – In their first game of the new year, Palomar faced Riverside City College in the Santa Ana College Classic and won 91-68.

Julie Saelee led all Comets with 23 points while Nikki Mayoral racked up 21. The only other Comet with double-digit scoring was Dee Dee Valenzuela who had 11 points. Lilly Crabtree crashed the boards hard nabbing 13 rebounds, nine of which were defensive. Aaliyah Taylor had nine points to go along with seven rebounds. Lauren Hecker had her best game of the season scoring seven points to go along with five rebounds and two steals.

The bench, who came in to score 50 points, was a major impact for the Comets. Even though the Comets got outrebounded (50-48), the team shot 71.4 percent at the charity stripe and 37.6 percent in the field. The Comets committed 14 turnovers and caused 23 to score 34 points.

The women improve to 14-1 on the season and will face host Santa Ana College Friday night for their final non-conference game of the season. Tip will be at 6 p.m.