Women's Basketball: Rio Hondo takes third at Riverside Tournament

Sophomore Aliyah Montiel scored 13 points, including a three-point basket to force overtime, to help lead Rio Hondo College to a 69-59 win on Sunday against Glendale College in the third-place game of the Riverside City College Earning Our Stripes Tournament.

The victory capped a 2-1 weekend for the Roadrunners at the tourney. Rio Hondo cruised to a 63-49 opening-round win over Bakersfield College  on Friday before falling 68-62 to host RCC in Saturday's semifinals.

Montiel, who was named to the all-tournament team, made sank three baskets from downtown against Glendale, but none bigger than the step-back three at the end of the fourth quarter. The Roadrunners went on to outscore Glendale 14-4 in overtime to earn the victory.

Sophomore Racquel Romero came off the bench to score a team-high 14 points while Melissa DeLeon had 12 points, including a huge four-point play in OT and six rebounds. Sophomore Joselyn Santillan added 10 points and rebounds while freshman Destinee Garr had a monster game on the boards, collecting 14 rebounds to go with seven points.

In the Riverside loss, Montiel scored 19 points for the second consecutive game to lead Rio Hondo. All six of her field goals from the contest were from three-point range. Romero was big off the bench again with 14 points while Santillan added 12 points and eight rebounds. DeLeon had a team-high nine rebounds to go with six points.

The win over Bakersfield saw DeLeon put up a double-double as she scored 19 points and grabbed a team-best 14 rebounds. Montiel had her first 19-point game of the tourney and freshman Essence Pineda put up 10 points off the bench. Garr added 12 rebounds, part of a 49-34 rebounding advantage for Rio Hondo in the game.

Rio Hondo, now 3-3 overall, returns to action next Tuesday (Nov. 22) when the Roadrunners host Santa Ana College in a 7 p.m. non-conference game.