The season hasn’t gone well for DVC’s women’s basketball team, which began with goals of making playoffs and placing in the conference top four.

But odds of making playoffs decreased with the 77 -58 loss Jan. 30 to Santa Rosa. The team went up against Modesto on Tuesday with a 2-8 conference record, too late for the Inquirer’s press deadline.

 Both DVC’s previous wins were against last-placed American River. The Vikings face Sierra at 6 tonight at home, followed by an away game Feb. 17 against Consumnes River and another home game Feb. 20 against Sacramento City College.

Last year, DVC ended the season with a 4-10 conference win record, 11-20 overall. So far, the team has an overall win record of 11-14 for this season.

Head Coach Maureen Mattson said her players haves reoriented their goals to “play hard every day, improve their skills and learn how to play as a team.”

Trouble with teamwork played into DVC’s loss on Jan. 30. Santa Rosa led in points the entire game, with DVC consistently lessening the gap, but never overtaking its rival.

By the second half, Santa Rosa led by 19 points, with the score 43-24. But DVC tightened up the gap to 57-49 after a sudden shift in play and the help of several free throws.

Mattson said the team’s strategy for the second half was to “get more physical,” a strategy that yielded good results.

But the team was unable to keep up the pace, and Santa Rosa continued to score until the game ended.

DVC guard Megan Souza attributed the widening gap at the end of the game to the team’s exhaustion from trying to catch up.

DVC guard Vernessa Roberts agreed, “We got down too far. [It] was too hard to come back,” she said.

Mattson agreed with the players, but also commended them for playing hard. “We played really well in spurts,” Mattson said.

“We keep playing up and down and not playing consistently.”