If this is to be the final season in more than three decades of Oxnard College women's basketball, the Condors made sure to make a lasting, positive memory Wednesday night in Santa Maria.
Down by 54-31 at the half and by as many as 27 points, Oxnard climbed all the way back to beat host Hancock, 67-64.
The epic comeback snapped a six-game, on-court losing streak. It was also OC's first win since being notified last week that the school would not field a team in the future.
"It takes a little of the pressure off of losing the program, to a certain extent," said Oxnard coach Phil Sherman after practice Thursday. "It's good for them.
"It's something they can remember forever."
Oxnard (6-9, 1-3) trailed by 14 with 6:33 to play and 5 in the final minute, when Andrea Edwards and Maritza Contreras hit back-to-back 3s to give the Condors a 65-64 lead.with 16 seconds to play.
"The morale is pretty good right now," said Sherman. "I asked them, 'Do you understand what you just did?' They caught the significance... 27-point comebacks don't happen every day."
Freshman forward Ashanti Sweezer had 21 points and 16 rebounds and freshman point guard Adrianna Vega, a Pacifica High product, scored 17 points and put the clamps on Hancock star Camille Zumbro.
Zumbro, who leads the state by scoring 26.8 points per game, was held just 14 points, the lowest total in WSC North play in her two seasons. She did not have a field goal in the second half.
"We cut off Zumbro," said Sherman. "That's rare."
Oxnard scrapped its zone defense at halftime and, playing man to man, held the Bulldogs to just 10 points in the second half.
"I've seen games when teams catch fire and they come back," said Sherman. "This was methodical... I had about 20 people come up to me after the game and say they had never seen anything like that before."
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