by Lavi Aulck
Sports Editor

Both SCC’s men’s and women’s basketball teams found themselves without winning records as they settled into the early season after tournament play.

The men’s basketball team is off to a .500 record for the early season as of November 27. The team opened the year losing on the road to Yakima Valley 92-77 on November 17.

After the loss, Shoreline took two of three to finish in secondplace in the Pierce Community College Tournament held from November 23-25 to put the squad at 2-2 overall.

Shoreline opened the tournament with back-to-back wins, defeating host Pierce by a final score of 87-62 in its first game and besting Bellevue 71-66 in its second. The team fell to Whatcom in its final game by a 78-60 count.

Head Coach Jeff Menday is happy with his team’s enthusiasm and defense during the start of the season. “This team loves to play basketball and plays real hard on the floor,” said Menday. “Our defense is tremendously improved (from last year) and we want to win.”

Although Menday’s four guardone forward starting lineup gave the team added quickness on both ends of the floor, the lineup’s lack of height is drawing rebounding concerns.

“We’ve been out rebounded in all four games,” said Menday “We have to improve our rebounding and stay on the offensive end longer. Defensively, we’re solid (with four guards) and we can score pretty good offensively, but (a smaller lineup) does hurt us on rebounding and we just have to improve on it.”

Sophomore forward JaRon Brown, the lone forward in the four-guard starting set, led the way for SCC as he averaged 17 points and eight rebounds for the tournament.

Guards Justin Grisby and Corey McClain combined for 26 of the team’s 51 assists over the three game stretch.

Meanwhile, SCC’s women found themselves without victories in their three contests as of November 27. The team lost both its games in SCC’s seventh annual annual “Turkey Shootout” over the weekend of November 16-18 and fell to lose to Linn-Benton Community College on November 21.

Not having a women’s basketball team for nearly all of last year is hurting the team as they struggle to find experience and develop an on-court rapport.

The team’s offense is averaging at less than 54 points per game while shaky defense has handed team losses by an average margin of 25 points.

Head coach Derek Witt believes the early struggles will lessen as the players gain familiarity with his system and with each other. “We’re going through some growing pains,” said Witt.

“We had a team last year that didn’t even finish the school year and now we have a brand new coaching staff and only two girls that are back from last year. Teams that have sophomores coming back usually start off quicker than others just because [the players] know the system and each other. Our girls are figuring all that out as we go along.”

All of the games played by both teams were non-league games and will not factor into each team’s Northwest Athletic Association for Community Colleges (NWAACC) league standings.

Only two girls that are back from last year. Teams that have sophomores coming back usually start off quicker than others just because [the players] know the system and each other. Our girls are figuring all that out as we go along.”