The Vaqueros cruised to victory, but were bruised in the first round playoff elimination game last Wednesday night against L.A. Southwest College, 88-72.

Francesca DeAngelis scored seven of the Vaqueros’ first 11 points before leaving the game with 10:48 left to go in the first half because of early foul trouble. The Western State Conference scoring leader scored six more points to account for 13 of the team’s 88 points, and also had nine rebounds and five assists.

“They were beating Frannie up, they were double and triple teaming her,” said head coach Sandrine Krul. “Other players were just stepping up.”

And freshman guard Hannah Cooper said the game got physical early-on.

“The first few minutes of the game were really physical, but that’s how it is in the playoffs,” Cooper said. “The level of intensity goes up. If calls don’t go our way, we have to play through it which I believe we did.”

DeAngelis took a hard blocking foul that briefly paused the game, then about six minutes later sophomore guard Giovanna “Gigi” Aplin took an elbow to the face.

“Yeah, I haven’t even recovered from that yet,” DeAngelis, a sophomore, said about the hit. “Her knee hit full speed into my pubic bone and it was honestly the worst pain I ever felt on the court.”

Aplin and point guard Jake Kelly were able to help carry the load and scored 20 points apiece.

“Gigi, man that girl. I’m so proud of her,” coach Krul said. “She was struggling in the preseason, her starting spot was taken away, she earned her starting spot back and now she is just carrying the load.”

The Vaqueros looked focused on the floor all night and showed awareness throughout the game, with fewer turnovers in the game than L.A. Southwest and more than double the assists of the Cougars, 11 to 27.

Rebounding was a reoccurring concern again in this game for City College. Even though the Vaqueros out-rebounded L.A. Southwest they still seemed to struggle on both the offensive and defensive glass for the second straight game.

The Vaqs’ next game is against the top ranked Fullerton College. The top seeded team ended The Vaqueros’ season in the semifinals of the South Region women’s basketball tournament 82-64 on Saturday.