Lopez drops 17 points in loss vs. Mission, PC goes 0-2 in Fresno

Sophomore Maria Lopez scored 17 points and added eight rebounds in Porterville College's 84-58 loss to Mission College on Sunday at the Fresno City College Tournament. And on Friday, PC suffered a 69-51 defeat by San Jose City College.

Over the first eight games of the season, Lopez leads the Pirates with a 16.9 points per game average.

Mission 84, Porterville 58
Porterville trailed by 10 points after two quarters, 40-30, and couldn't get much closer in the second half of the contest. Lopez was the lone Pirate to score in double digits while Sayla Arguelles and Ally Garcia both scored nine points each. Kathy Rodriguez nearly came up with a double-double by scoring eight points and grabbing eight rebounds. Sierra Perez chipped in with eight points and six rebounds.

San Jose City 69, Porterville 51
The Pirates played well over the first two quarters and appeared to have a good shot at picking up their first win of the season. PC trailed by just one point, 27-26, at halftime before San Jose City blew the game open by outscoring Porterville 23-8 in the third quarter.

Lopez was again led PC in Friday's loss with 14 points. She also grabbed six rebounds and totaled two steals. Garcia scored 11 points, Arquelles had 10 points and Perez totaled 12 boards and nine points off the bench for the Pirates.

Porterville, now 0-8 overall, will look for victory No. 1 on Dec. 18 when the Pirates open play at the MiraCosta College Tournament.