COD (3-13) imposed their will on the visiting Imperial Valley Arabs (0-13) and used their largest first quarter output of the season to put some distance between them and the visitors, cruising past the Arabs, 70-27.

COD took the opening tip and never looked back as they scored 30 points, ending the quarter with a 30-4 lead. Freshman starting guard Mercades Young (Moreno Valley Vista Del Lago) had 17 points in the first quarter alone, shooting 7 for 9 and hitting midrange jumpers and was a deadly 3 for 3 from three-point range. Sophomore starting forward Jerrica Perez (Indio Shadow Hills) added an impressive nine points in the first quarter, shooting 4 for 7 from the field and going 1 for 3 from beyond the arc. 

The second quarter saw a drop off for the Roadrunners, as Imperial Valley improved their defense significantly, but a unique anomaly occurred during the quarter. Both teams ended up with an exact team shot total of 5 for 19 (26.3%), a strange stat as College of the Desert rolled into the halftime break up, 40-16.

The third and fourth quarters saw some of the same Desert dominance that was viewed in the first quarter with the newly crowned "Defense Department" led by sophomore starting forward Lexie Jackson (La Quinta H.S.), blocking 3 shots and grabbing 12 total boards in the win. Jackson has 40 blocks so far this season, ranking her 6th in the state, along with 212 total boards, ranking her 7th in the state so far this season.

Every Roadrunners player scored tonight and leading the way was Young with 26 points on 11 of 17 shooting and going an impressive 4 for 6 from three-point range. Perez contributed 11 points on 5 of 13 shooting, leading the team in assists with six and freshman starting guard Jada Toland (Indio Shadow Hills) led the team in steals with six, adding eight points on 3 of 8 shooting on the night.

Freshman center Angela Pinson (La Quinta H.S.) added ten boards on the night and both freshman forward Yesenia Velazquez-Hernandez (Thermal Desert Mirage) and freshman guard Cienna Martinez (Bishop H.S.) scored five points each off of the bench. Sophomore forward Sara Edwards (Palm Desert H.S.) contributed two points off of the bench in the win.

Photo by Britney Vargas (COD Sports Information)
Information, Photos & Story provided by COD Sports Information.