Women's basketball team opens season

Rio Hondo's women's basketball team opened the season on a sour note Nov. 6 when Long Beach City College handed the Roadrunners a 64-44 thumping in the Viking's gym.

The Lady Roadrunners tailed 32-20 at the half and were never able to recover.

Long Beach City College shot 35 percent for the game, but Rio Hondo didn't shoot much better, as they shot a woeful 26 percent from the field.

The Lady Roadrunners didn't help themselves at the free throw line, either, by hitting just 10-21 giving them just 47 percent.

Last year, Rio Hondo's Women's Basketball team made it to the playoffs, but suffered an upset after losing the first game.

The Lady Roadrunners are looking to rebound after that upset loss last year in the playoffs and going to try to improve on their 26-7 record they had a year ago.

This year, they plan to repeat and improve on their performance in order to be victorious.

This season there's a new sheriff in town, new Head Coach Steve Johnson. Johnson is no stranger to basketball, in fact he has sixteen years of experience at all three levels.

"As far as learning how to play.it's a learning process because we're so young," said Johnson of his team. This year, the team has 11 freshman and two returning Sophomores, but Johnson remains confident in his team and has no worries about the upcoming season.

The team feels confident about themselves since they've been working hard at practice.

Coach Johnson already sees major potential in Reina Sosa (Sophomore), who is a forward in the game and whom Johnson says, "is going to be a great help to us this year."

Jeanette Ramirez (Freshman) at guard, Amber Gonzalez at guard (Freshman), and Ashley Valencia (Freshman) also at guard, are key players who Johnson sees potential in. "Valencia is a major contribution to the team this year", Johnson added.