VIDEO: COD Women's Basketball alumnus Bianca Gutierrez talks about her time at COD and going into her senior season at UMFK.

COD alumnus Bianca Gutierrez stopped by for a brief interview right before her senior season at the University of Maine at Fort Kent (UMFK).

Gutierrez, a graduate of Palm Desert High School in 2014, played for the Roadrunners in the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons. She commented about her time with College of the Desert, stating that, Desert "allowed me to hone my skills and provided improvement in all aspects of the game." Gutierrez continued, "I was able to play on the same team with girls I went to high school with and I was able to boost my Grade Point Average, which led me down the path to an academic scholarship, in addition to an athletics scholarship."

Asked about what she misses most about the Coachella Valley, Gutierrez said, "I miss family, the weather, the food, and the convenience of being able to get something 'just down the street.' At Fort Kent, if you need something, you need to plan on travel." As an example the nearest Costco is over 400 miles away, which is almost the same distance between COD and San Jose.

Gutierrez started all 25 games for the UMFK Bengals during the 2017-18 season, averaging 10.1 points per game and 3.6 rebounds per game. Her best all-around game was on February 15th, where she score 15 points and grabbed nine boards in a 79-63 win.

Her thoughts on why she chose UMFK, "It's a small school with a good student-to-teacher ratio and I wanted to experience all four season, a rural lifestyle and lots of greenery and trees."

Asked how she ended up at UMFK, "The coach at Fort Kent saw my highlight reel on my Hudl account and reached out to me."

The UMFK Bengals play all of their home games in the UMFK Sports Center and are in Division One of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA). The Bengals went 12-13 overall this past 2017-18 season. The campus is located less than a mile from the US-Canadian Border.

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For additional information, please contact the COD Sports Information Office at 760.423.6641.