Heading into its Central Valley Conference opener on Wednesday, the Porterville College women's basketball team knew it would have to play at its best to challenge No. 10 state-ranked Merced College. But turnovers and a rough night shooting resulted in a 100-31 Pirates' loss.

Merced's defense stifled the PC offense as the Pirates turned the ball over 36 times. Porterville made just 11 of 60 shots in the contest and was outrebounded by a 56-34 margin.

Porterville faced an uphill battle from the start and trailed 24-7 after the first quarter. PC was down 54-15 at halftime.

Trinity Ramirez led the Pirates with 9 points. She added 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals. Breyanna Hernandez contributed 6 points while Jordan Keene and Ashley Campos had 5 rebounds each.

Merced (12-5, 1-0 CVC) got 18 points from returning CVC Player of the Year Malaya Kendrick.

Porterville fell to 2-15 overall and 0-1 in conference play. The Pirates will look to snap a 10-game losing streak on Saturday (Jan. 11) when they travel to West Hills College Lemoore for a 5 p.m. CVC game.