by Dennis McCall
Taft Midway Driller
BAKERSFIELD – Bakersfield College's suffocating defense forced 42 turnovers and the Renegades cruised past Taft College 77-44 here last Saturday afternoon in a non-conference women's basketball game.
It kept BC undefeated at 5-0 and Taft winless at 0-6.
The Cougars will try to get on the winning track today in the Ventura Tournament of Champions but the task will be a difficult one.
TC gets to play the host Pirates, year-in and year-out one of the top teams in southern California. The tournament runs through Sunday.
Taft's two sophomore centers had strong outings against Bakersfield.
Emilee Davidson led the team in scoring with 14 points and rebounds with 18 (13 defensive and 5 offensive).
Kennedy Kunce scored 13 points and had 11 rebounds (6 defensive and 5 offensve.)
No other Cougar scored in double figures.
Freshman guard Carrie Graham had eight points and two assists, Synclaire Lucas scored seven points and had eight rebounds and Mariah Hernandez had two points and two assists.
BC utilizes a swarming press that forced the Cougars into 42 turnovers. By contrast, the Renegades had just 15 turnovers.
To make matters worse for the Cougars they had their coldest shooting night of the young season, making just 25 percent of their field goal tries (14 of 56).
They did better from the free throw line, making 13 of 21 for 62 percent.
Bakersfield took 31 more shots than the Cougars to finish the day with 32 percent from the field.