Men’s and women’s PC squads notch first wins

When shooting hoops, most kids like to practice buzzer shots, pretending there’s just three seconds left of the game and the score’s tied.
Not Porterville College’s Kalyn Reed. The freshman forward doesn’t like the pressure.
Yet, with 5.2 seconds remaining in Friday’s season opener against Barstow, Reed found herself in a pressure situation and calmly swished two free throws to give the Pirates a thrilling, 65-63 victory over the Vikings.
“I’m really happy with my first game,” Reed said of Porterville’s 1-0 start. “You try not to think about (those situations) — it makes you miss.”
Reed was one of five freshmen to begin their collegiate careers with a win at Pirates Gym. The undermanned Pirates had just two more sophomores rounding out the entire roster, which was missing Olga Velasquez and Rachel Harrison to volleyball duties.
Velasquez, at 5-foot-10, and Harrison, at 5-foot-8, are the two tallest girls on the team, leaving 5-foot-7 Reed as the tallest remaining player.
As a result, the Pirates were outrebounded 50-32 and had little post presence to speak of. It turns out they didn’t need them.
Reed, who finished with 13, and Chantal Crouzet, who had a team high 20, combined to shoot 8-of-14 from beyond the arc and half of the team’s points.
“Before the game, I felt my shot was on tonight,” Reed said. “And I just started putting the shots up and hoped they went in.”
Fortunately for the Pirates, they did. Especially the last two free throws that broke a tie at 63 and gave the Pirates their first lead of the game.
Porterville started flat against a Barstow squad that was also missing its all-conference center, 6-foot-1 Jalissa Butler.
But Mechel’La Logan, who finished with a game high 21, powered the Vikings to a 15-point lead with five minutes left in the first half, all but leaving the Pirates for dead.
“We weren’t pushing the ball up (in the first half),” Porterville coach Dave Kavern said. “Kevinesha (Gray) and Quaraya (Fuston) took 15, 18 seconds to push the ball across half court, then you get maybe one or two passes and you gotta shoot to beat the clock.”
The Pirates entered the second half looking like a whole different team and began hitting the boards.
“(Kavern) went down a list of things (at halftime) and rebounding was No. 1,” Reed said. “I thought we picked up on our rebounding and we hustled more.”
Minutes into the second half, the Pirates took a 10-point deficit at the break and came within five off a Nansi Reyes layup.
But Paulette Pereira pushed the Vikings’ lead back up to 13, 54-41, off a layup of her own with just over seven minutes left of the game.
The 5-foot-5 Reyes, who finished with 13, responded with a spin move in the post that sparked a 9-0 run.
The Pirates were still down by seven with 4:15 remaining, but Crouzet and Reed each knocked down a trey to tie at 63 and set up Reed’s drive with 12 seconds left.
Of course, Barstow fouled her and the rest was season-opening history.
Game notes: Kevinesha Gray got the job done as the 1-guard with 10 points, four assists and three steals... Barstow had 31 turnovers to Porterville’s 18... the Pirates shot just 33 percent (14-37) overall, but 40 percent (12-30) from outside.