SANTA ANA- The Dons won their first home Orange Empire Conference game against the Fullerton College Hornets 64-58. The Dons (11-7) held off the Hornets (8-10) in the fourth quarter to win the conference game.
Sophomore Lauren Fruto opened the game by scoring the first points of the game with two free throws. The Hornets came back by scoring 7 points in a row for the lead. Sophomore Blaysen Varnadoe then scored a three-point jump shot followed by a layup. Varnadoe went on to score a total of ten points in the first half followed by 8 rebounds and 2 assists. Lauren Fruto also scored 6 points and had 5 rebounds and a steal to round out the first half to trail Fullerton College 29-25.
Fullerton College opened the second half of the conference game with a layup against the Dons to bring the lead up to 31-25. Fruto scored a jump shot to cut the lead by 4 points. Blaysen Varnadoe then controlled the ball offensively in the third quarter to score 9 more points for Santa Ana College.
Sophomores Jen Ventura and Alysia Gamboa both made three-point jump shots in the fourth quarter to take the lead away from the Hornets. Sophomore Taylor Ivicevic scored 8 points at the end of the quarter to end the game with a win for the Dons 64-58.
Women's basketball will play again in their third Orange Empire Conference game on Wednesday, Jan. 11, at Riverside City College at 5 p.m.