SANTA ANA - In a game that turned out to be a tale of two halves, the Dons are still looking for their first Orange Empire Conference victory after losing to Riverside City College 80-70.

The Dons used a combination of 41% shooting and just eight turnovers in the first half to grab a 40-38 lead over the visiting Tigers. However, that shooting cooled off significantly in the second half for the Dons while Riverside was able to continue its steady performance. The beginning of the second half seemed to be going the Dons way until the 15:13 mark when the two teams were tied at 45-45.

Riverside had already scored five-straight points to tie the game and continued to take control by scoring another 14 points to make the run 19-0 overall. Liliana Gonzalez finally broke the run at the 11:27 mark with a three-pointer making the score 59-48. The Dons were able to fight their way back into the game, cutting the score to as little as three points on a pair of Ashley Whisler free throws with 3:12 left in the game.

However, Riverside scored the game's final seven points to squash the Dons rally and claim the 80-70 victory. Riverside's Leilani Chavez led all scorers with 21 points with four teammates scoring in double digits behind her. Whisler led the way for the Dons with 20 points followed by Gonzalez with 12 and Kelly Smit and Emily Hale adding 10 points apiece.

Next up for the Dons is a trip to Saddleback College on January 25 while Riverside hosts that same Saddleback team on January 23.