Pierce College Blogs

The Raiders avenged an opening night loss on the road to Lower Columbia (Jan. 5, 82-80), Saturday night, by handing the Red Devils their 4th consecutive loss, 83-74.  The Raiders had a balanced scoring attack, with four players scoring in double figures.  Alix Hernandez led the way with 21 points, on 8 of 13 from the field, Cramer Doughty pitched in 14 points (5 of 7 from the field), Michael Stepovich had 13 points (9 for 9 from the line), and Alfred Davis added 11 points, along with 6 assists and 6 steals.  Brandon Thomas fell one point short of another double-double, scoring 9 points an grabbing a team high 10 rebounds.  The Raiders had their best night of the season, shooting 25 for 33 from the line, 75.8%.

The win keeps the Raiders alone in second place in the Western Division, 2 games behind Tacoma CC.  Pierce travels to Tacoma Monday night to take on the #1 ranked Titans.

Despite a solid first half effort on Saturday night, the Raiders ran out of gas down the stretch, falling to division leading Lower Columbia 81-55.  The Raiders (5-4 in league) proved they could play with the best in the first 20 minutes, trailing by just 5 points at the break.  Unfortunately, the bench depth and sophomore experience of the Red Devils proved too much for the Raiders to handle in the second half.  Pierce was led by the 25 points of Unique Taufa’asau, supported by solid performances from Taylor Riley (11 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 steals), Jennifer Rae (10 points and 10 rebounds), and Jessica Bush (12 rebounds and 3 blocks). 

The Raiders travel to Tacoma on Monday night to take on the Titans of TCC.

In his 16th season as a head coach in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges, Raiders Men’s Basketball coach Bill Mendelson joined an elite fraternity of NWAACC coaches by capturing his 250th collegiate win.  The milestone was reached in a home game on January 19, 2011, when the Raiders captured a 75-58 victory against Western Division rival Highline CC.

Mendelson began his college coaching career at South Puget Sound CC, when he took over the women’s basketball program for the 1995-96 season.  In his six years at the helm, the Lady Clippers earned five trips to the NWAACC Tournament, placing 6th in 1998, and 5th in 2001.  He had four 20+ win seasons, and compiled a record of 94-80.  Mendelson moved over to the Clippers’ men’s program from 2001-2003, going 38-23 in two seasons, and placing 8th at the NWAACC Tournament in 2002.

Mendy made the move up I-5 in the Fall of 2003 to take over the Raiders program.  In his seven plus seasons with Pierce, he has won 118 games (against 95 losses), and has led the Raiders to the top two finishes in the program’s history at the NWAACC Tournament.  His 2005 team earned a shot at the conference championship, but lost a tough game to division rival Lower Columbia, and finished in 2nd Place.  In 2007, the Raiders lost to Bellevue in the semi-finals, but took care of business against Walla Walla on the final day of the tournament, to finish in 3rd Place.

Mendelson was honored prior to the Raiders game against Clark on January 29.  Former players from SPSCC and his past Raiders teams were on hand to congratulate Coach Mendy.

The Raider Men’s Basketball team made their first appearance in the 2010-2011 NWAACC Coaches Poll this week, cracking the top eight, with a #6 ranking in the conference (tied with Clackamas).  The Raiders, 6-2 in league play and 13-5 overall, finished the first half of Western Division play on a six game win streak, and firmly in second place.  This marks the first time since the 2006-2007 that the Raiders have been ranked, the same year the team placed Third at the NWAACC Championships.

The Raiders start the second half of their league schedule with a brutal stretch of 4 games in 8 days, opening with Lower Columbia at home on Saturday, Feb. 5, and traveling to Tacoma on Monday, February 7.

Riding a 3 game win streak, the Raider Women finished the first half of league play tied for Third Place in the Western Division, with a record of 5-3 (7-9 overall).  Big wins at home against Tacoma (77-71), Centralia (69-49) and Clark (62-59), highlighted the month of January for the resurgent Raiders.  The all-freshmen squad features three players averaging in double figure scoring, lead by Unique Taufa’asau (16.4 ppg), Taylor Riley (11.3), and Jennifer Rea (10.2).  Riley, Taufa’asau, Rea, and post Jessica Bush are all averaging over 6 rebounds each per game.

The Raiders host first place Lower Columbia (9-0) this Saturday, as they start the second half of the league schedule, and continue their push for a berth to the NWAACC Tournament in March.  The Raiders last qualified for the post season in 1997.

After a tough 2 point loss on the road in their league opener against Lower Columbia (Jan. 5), followed by a loss at home to the top-ranked Titans from Tacoma (Jan. 8), the Raiders have run off a 6 game win streak to finish the first half of league play alone in Second Place near the top of the Western Division.  Decisive wins at home against Centralia (81-47), Highline (75-58), and Clark (68-53), as well as a key win on the road against Green River (68-56), have helped put the Raiders in a solid position for a return trip to the NWAACC Championships, for the second straight year.  The Raiders have a balanced attack, lead in scoring by sophomores Brandon Thomas (13.6 ppg) and Alix Hernandez (13.0).  Freshman point guard Sian Laine leads the team in assists (69), is second in steals (31), and is third in scoring (11.8 ppg).  The team ranks second in the NWAACC in total rebounds, and is second in team defense, holding their opponents to just 65.4 points per game.

The Raiders start the second half of the 2011 campaign at home this Saturday, Feb. 5, when they host the Red Devils from Lower Columbia.  Game time is 7:00 p.m.

Members of the Raiders Volleyball and Soccer teams were recently recognized for their outstanding accomplishments in the classroom.  Nissa McCormack, Wes Caldwell, Alex Garza, and Kent Sanner, were all selected the NWAACC All-Academic Team for Fall Quarter.  The All-Academic team recognizes those sophomore student-athletes who have maintained a 3.25 grade point average or better during the 2 years of college coursework.  In addition, McCormack and Caldwell were also selected as recipients of the NWAACC Academic Leadership Award.  This award recognizes sophomore student-athletes who have maintained a grade point average of 3.50 or better.

The Raiders Men’s Soccer squad garnered a pile of awards in the recent announcement of the All-Star and All-Region awards.  Sophomore defender Nathan Montoya, freshman forward Suku Hudson and freshman midfielder Femi Akinniyi, were selected to the South-West All-Star team.  Sophomores Kent Sanner (defender), Nick Creveling (goalkeeper), and Nathan Jung (defender), were named to the South’s All-Region team.

Sophomore setter Lauren Komarzec was selected to the Western Region Second Team All-Stars for her outstanding performance for the Raiders 2010 season.  The converted setter, from Gig Harbor High School, helped lead the Raiders to a 5th place finish in the West, missing the playoffs by just one win.  Coach Doug Carlson noted, “Lauren’s growth in the setter’s role kept us in the playoff hunt until the final weekend of the season”.

The second day of action at the Raiders Holiday Invitational Tournament saw more great community college basketball action!  In the first game of the consolation bracket, Tacoma played well in holding off Peninsula, 69-44.  In the second game, Wenatchee Valley handled Olympic pretty easily, earning a 55-31 win.  In the winner’s bracket, the first game was a rematch of last year’s tournament championship game, with Lane pulling away from Skagit Valley at the end, 81-64.. In the final game of the day, Clackamas made easy work of the host Raiders in the early going and coasted to a 104-54 victory.

The third and final day of the tournament looks like this:  In the 4th/6th place game, Tacoma takes on Wenatchee Valley at 11:00 a.m.  In the 3rd/5th place game, Skagit Valley and Pierce will meet at 1:00 p.m.  And, in the championship game, an all-Oregon final features the Lane Titans against the Clackamas Cougars, starting at 3:00 p.m.