SAN MARCOS – Palomar women’s basketball blows out the Santa Barbara Vaqueros 79-61 at home as they move on to the next round of the playoffs.
After a 22-6 regular season and 14-0 conference record, the Palomar women’s basketball team secured the number six seed in the 3C2A southern regional bracket. The team received a first-round bye and a home playoff game in the second round.
Santa Barbara played its round one matchup against Imperial Valley College, defeating them 57-52. The Vaqueros and Comets matched up in the playoffs last season, playing at The Dome in round two of the 2024 playoffs, a game that the Comets won in dominating fashion. Almost exactly one year later, the story remains the same as Comets’ victory.
The Dome was packed for the Comets home playoff game and the energy inside the building was extreme from the tipoff to the final buzzer.
Pacific Coast Athletic Conference player of the year, Kylee Trujillo, of the Comets shined in her playoff debut, scoring 16 points with four assists. Trujillo shot 3-7 from three-point range in the game and provided excellent defense, forcing multiple steals and deflections for the Comets.
“Today was a great feeling, a great win with each other. We played as a unit, and we got Moorpark next,” Trujillo said postgame.
Sophomore Nevaeh Mageo led the Comets with 17 points as she connected on five three-point shots. Mageo said postgame that she was able to find herself open, and her teammates just kept feeding her the ball, which led to her success from three.
Teanna Alaman scored 15 points off the bench for the Comets, including six rebounds. Her teammate Brooke Quinitana also scored 15 points in the win as she went a perfect 7-7 from the free-throw line.
Palomar found its three-point stroke during the game, shooting 36% from downtown during the game while limiting Santa Barbara to a whopping 15% shooting from three.
The Comets now get ready to play Moorpark College in round three. Moorpark blew out Fullerton College in their round two playoff game by a final score of 79-39.
“I think we just need to keep up the good energy and stay together,” Nevaeh Mageo said about the upcoming game against Moorpark.
“We just gotta play our best, we just gotta do what we do, if we keep playing as a unit and trusting each other than we can do anything,” said Kylee Trujillo.
For more information on the team, click the link here.
